Write Time

Working Full-Time and Writing (or for any busy writer) By Camy Tang

As always, remember that these tips won't all work for everyone, so pick and choose what's right for you.

Utilize small increments of time.

Wherever you go, bring things with you to do so you can be efficient if you have a spare minute. Bring paper and pen, a PDA, a laptop, or an Alphasmart. Even if you only have a few minutes, work on your manuscript. Those two sentences you add are still two sentences.

Often, when you transfer the small snippets you write in these short amounts of time onto the computer, you end up expanding on what you've written. It acts as a springboard for more ideas, extended prose, longer dialogue. Nothing is wasted.

I'm usually not organized enough to remember the previous scene to add on to it, or to bring a few pages to edit. If you have a laptop computer that you write on, take that to work. I sometimes save my manuscript onto my PDA, because it has a keyboard attachment. What I also do is save my manuscript in Yahoo Briefcase (http://briefcase.yahoo.com/), an online service that enables you to save up to 30 MB of data in your personal online folder and then access it from any computer hooked up to the internet. It's completely FREE, you just need to register as a Yahoo! Member or get a Yahoo! email address. I can access my manuscript during the day from my work computer and edit a few pages, then save it back into my briefcase and resume working on it at home.

Stress
Sometimes when I have a few precious minutes to write, I'm stressed because of whatever task I've just finished, or I stress about using the time efficiently and end up getting nothing done. For when you are emotionally heightened and only have short periods of time, do writing-related things that are more relaxing and less creatively stressful than writing prose. Brainstorm new ideas, edit your manuscript, or read (see list at bottom for writing-related ideas).

Complex plots
Many times the manuscript is incredibly complex, which makes it difficult to write unless you have a huge chunk of time. If that's the case, then use the small increments of time to brainstorm, write dialogue or narration snippets, jot down questions about the plot, develop characters. Use the time to do what you can on the story, even if things are out of order in the plot. Many times I'll think up a short dialogue that I can use several chapters down the road, or I'll think up something to add to what I've already written.

Use dead time to imagine and plan the next scene.
Another way to utilize short periods of time efficiently and with less emotional stress is to use "dead" time before your "writing" time to mentally prepare. While washing dishes, or driving home from work, think about the next scene you have to write--where it will be set, how to set up the tension, how to create more conflict. Then, when you sit down in front of the computer you can just go for it, no wasted time sitting and thinking.

If you'd rather not use the short times to write, use it to read:
A Writer's Digest article can be completed in a few minutes.
A chapter in a writer's craft book
Writing articles on the web.
Research material for your next book or article.
A few pages of your manuscript to edit.
A few pages of your critique partner's manuscript to edit.
A non-writing magazine or newspaper--read them during your spare random times rather than at home when you could be writing.
A book to analyze--what made it good or bad, highlight the threads (spiritual, emotional/relationship, plot, suspense, etc.)

Next month: Rest days

Camy Tang lives in San Jose, California and works in biology research. In her spare time, she is a staff worker for her church youth group. She writes Asian Christian fiction, and you can read more at her website or drop her an email for more information.

Comments

[Dee Stewart]

Camy, I am doing those very things now and it has helped me. I'm a single mother, new startup business owner, fiancee and I don't have time to breathe. So I'm a testimony, writing here and there and in the carpool line works.

[Camy Tang]

That's awesome, Dee! I really had to LEARN how to use small nuggets of time, it was hard for me. I'm better at it now, but I'm still not as efficient as I'd like. :-) If you have any other tips, send them on to me!

Camy