Working Full-Time and Writing
(or for any busy writer)
As always, remember that these tips won't all work for everyone, so pick and choose what's right for you.
Time-saving equipment
What to do when you're busy with work deadlines and a starving family?
For a pre-planner:
Spend a day cooking and freezing family meals. This can be even a month in advance of the deadline. There are tons of recipes online, or try Cyndy Salzmann's book The Occasional Cook.
This does require some freezer space, and if that's at a minimum, then select certain recipes. Choose meals where you can do some pre-cooking for parts of it, and then the rest only requires a quick zap in the microwave, or chopping some veggies, or opening a few cans.
Soups are great recipes to do ahead of time. Sometimes you can do a little pre-cooking or assembling of everything that needs to go into the soup. Then freeze the ingredients so that when you're ready to make it, you just dump in some water or canned broth and heat it on the stove.
Crockpot(s):
The crockpot is a wonderful, marvelous, life-saving invention. If you're a crazy-busy mom, you can skip some of the browning steps (gasp!) and just throw everything into the crockpot in the morning. By evening, dinner is done.
They're cheap little suckers, too. A 6-quart, which is more than enough for a main dish for a family of 4, is about $60. This is even the kind with a timer, two temperature settings, AND a removable insert (very important for cleanup).
Because they're so cheap, consider investing in several so you can make a main dish and a couple side dishes at the same time--the other crockpots can be smaller or the same sizes. You'll have a healthy meal and veggies on the table with minimal work.
Tape recorder:
If you're in the car for long stretches, invest in a small tape recorder and record your writing ideas while you drive. This is perfect for commute times once the kids have been dropped off, or even if they're in the car, if they're not too demanding of your attention.
Record anything and everything--plotting ideas, character traits, scenes (both narrative and dialogue). Later you can transpose onto the computer and even expand on your ideas as you do so.
This is also a great opportunity to record stream-of-consciousness brainstorming. Just start throwing out ideas or talking yourself through a sticky scene.
Portable word processors:
If you don't have or can't afford a laptop computer, Alphasmarts and Quickpads are neat little keyboards you can take with you and whip out a few pages. Most writers like them because they're smaller than a laptop, some don't like the fact the screen is so small.
Alphasmarts are made for schoolrooms so they're incredibly durable and can handle the banging around in a diaper bag. You can take them to workshops, on visits to the doctor, to sports games, to bed, anywhere (although I wouldn't recommend using them while driving).
They're very handy and not too expensive (about $200-400). They are especially cheap if you buy them used on eBay, because sometimes schools getting rid of a bunch of Alphasmarts will put them on sale. Because they're so durable, the odds are good that even a used model will work fine.
Camy Tang
lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research,
and she is a staff worker for her church youth group. She runs the Story Sensei critique service, and her Asian chick-lit novel has just been contracted by Zondervan.
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