Respect and understanding

I guess it was about five or six years ago I had the pleasure of having client who is also a pretty famous writer. Vero Beach seems to be a hotbed for authors and this one was no exception- started Miami and worked his way up and I not to name drop, but his initials are C.H.

At the time I was not writing myself although I had aspirations to begin. I can remember being impressed and a little bit awestruck by this man. He had a set schedule that he stuck to, and had his family stick to as well. He had an office set off in the house and when he went into his office during normal hours that he had set aside he was not to be disturbed under any circumstances. He stuck to the schedule just like in any other work environments and he made family stick to it as well. At the time I didn’t quite understand the need for this type of environment, but now that I’m writing I truly do.

Now that I’m writing myself I understand why there is a need for your own special space. It may not be in office, it could just be a quiet little corner of your porch or in your bedroom with the bedroom door closed. But you do need to have a location where you can write and not have any interruptions in your thought flow.

Without an exclusive environment to write in, it’s easy to get distracted. I found that out myself; it’s easy to get up to run to get a drink and next thing you know you’re throwing a load of laundry in the washer or playing with the cats.

You pick up the phone and the next thing you know, you’re answering emails. The distractions are boundless enough without anybody in the house, and add in family and friends? They see you at your desk and unless that door is closed you are soon caught up in family demands. Or, maybe you write outside and soon it is the neighbors who want to chit chat because they see you out on the porch. Before you know what you’ve lost hours of writing time.

And then there’s the internal interruptions; the need to check your emails, to go on your favorite blogs or forums to just check out what’s going on. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, Tumbler; are all great things, but you need to set aside a time to do them away from your writing time. These are important things, because for many of us that is the way that we provide a social platform to make our name recognizable. But you need to set aside separate times to write and separate times to promote. It’s up to you to decide what order and the length of time that you need for each of these items

So, as I’m working on my third book, I understand and admire this author that I spoke of earlier with even more respect. He was able to stick to his regimen and pour out books, very good books by the way, and he still was able to do everything else in his life that he wanted to.
I’m taking my lessons from him. I’m going to start setting my own writing time and stick to it even if it’s only an hour at night from 10 to 11 when I have time to myself and can’t be interrupted. I will follow his example and build from it.

What steps are you going to take to make your writing career more successful and more productive?