You Have Me Confused - #MFRWauthor

Welcome to week 36 of the #MFRWauthor blog hop. We're writers and to do so we must spend time actually writing and that brings us to this week's topic: HOW DO YOU MANAGE YOUR WRITING TIME?

When I first saw this post I got a sense of deja vu. I was certain I'd talked about my writing time before. And I did, in a way, when we did the Day In The Life week. So this topic is similar but not really. Anyway I'm rambling.

I am a pantser. I don't know where the story is going half the time. I mean I have a general idea, but my characters are assholes and like to throw me off course. I roll with it. I say this because I can't just sit and force myself to write at a certain time. My brain doesn't function like that. I don't have an outline to go by, I don't have my muse 'trained' to perform at certain times of the day. I write when my characters demand it and give me some hint as to what they want to do next.

Before this year, there would be days I wouldn't write at all. When we talked about why we write, I wasn't the writer saying might as well ask me why I breathe. I can take a break, not work on, or even think about my WIP or writing at all. However, I'm part of a Facebook group called 10 Minute Novelist, and in that group there's a subgroup called the 365 Club. I have the badge on the left sidebar. That group challenges you to build a writing habit of writing every single day, at least 100 words. I'm proud to say I've not missed a day yet *knock on wood*.

All of those words have not been on my WIP. Some days it's simply been a blog post, like yesterday, and other days I am inspired to work on my current project. I've said before I started writing because of a game I play. I still write stories for that game as a way to relax so those words count.

I'm not a disciplined writer. I don't wake up before my kids to get words in. From 7:30-2:30, Monday-Friday, I'm home with just my dogs during the school year. This is when I try to get my writing done because I know I'll have uninterrupted thoughts. TRY being the word there. It doesn't always work out. I've joined a chat group on Twitter with fellow romance writers and I have been doing beta reading for them. We make the rounds on each other's stories. Now 2 of my free hours are spent dedicated to reading. This is after working out (some mornings) and internetting, because yeah I have to do that too.

Summers, weekends, holidays, my writing moments have to shift to when I'm not doing mommy things. My kids are older and don't need my attention as much, but it's still needed so I squeeze in my writing when I can during those times. When I take my youngest to Tae Kwon Do, my Chromebook is always in tow. I pop in my earbuds and write for the 45 minutes he's in class. If I have to take my middle son to baseball practice, I'll write on the notepad function on my phone.

This has been a really long winded post for an answer that could have been just two words. How do I manage my writing time? I DON'T.

Thanks for stopping by
~Meka

Be sure to check out if the other authors on the hop are more disciplined than I am.