Insecure Writers want to know: What steps have you taken to put a schedule in place for your writing and publishing?

          A publishing schedule? Wouldn’t that be nice! Publishing is up to the magazines I submit to. I’ve been blessed that Cricket Magazine will be publishing another of my YA adventure short stories in their April 2018 issue. It never ceases to thrill me!

            As far as my writing schedule goes, it’s getting everyone else to adhere to it that’s my problem. Sometimes my family needs to understand that I AM, in fact, writing and require thinking time. You know, peace and quiet.

            Okay, it’s true! My husband and five children, as well as my extended family, have all taught me how to work in short spurts. But no matter how many times I try to tell them that I work best in the morning—and if things are going well, maybe the afternoon too—they continue to “need” me at different times. In fact, they have this interruption thing all timed out. Of course, they change it up a bit so it’s not the same person calling, stopping by, or requiring my help or insight at the same time during the day. The funny thing is that they each think they’re the only one interrupting me throughout the day.

  

            No! It’s not simply a matter of not answering the telephone. They know where I live. Most of them still live with me!       

Does an empty nest happen to everybody, or only a select few? When I run off to the library, the family seems to know where I hide among the stacks.

            My husband says it’s because “we all love you.”

I love them, too. I really do. In fact, sometimes I ask for their opinions on how to describe a certain action to a young reader. I’ll ask them about my word choice or the steps in a scene. They can be very helpful. Then at other times, they just get stuck staring at me as I try so hard to hammer out a scene in my story. I can stay in my chair and write if they’d only stop boring holes in my head, waiting for me to “finish” so they can ask me something.

I’m thinking about moving to a deserted island. Of course I’ll need internet service…and electricity for my laptop. And maybe my teapot and a teacup. Some tea and cookies… Anyone have a better solution?

Thanks so much for stopping by Adventures in Writing and offering your advice. Please follow my blog if you haven’t already. It’s greatly appreciated. I wish you all every success in 2018! 

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. We post on the first Wednesday of every month.  To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.