Time waits for no man....

Just when you think you're on top of things, you run out of time - again! I sent off the first assignment yesterday and fully intended to read through the next section of the course and see what the next assignment was.

I got about half way through.

My lovely wife Jodi mentioned we should rearrange the study this coming weekend to make it more comfortable for me to work in. Then she made the brilliant suggestion that I retrieve an old wing back chair I had stored in the garage so I had somewhere nice to read.

That got me started - I had to get the chair into my study and I had to rearrange the whole study to make it work. So after removing doors, altering the desk, running additional cables, unloading the book case, moving boxes, etc, etc - I finally got it sorted.

I then looked at the clock - the evening had fled and I was pretty tired. The family has to get up at six each morning now to get things done so my days of staying up till 1am are behind me.

I received my instructions from HorrorScope last night and some welcome emails from the other friendly staff members. Nervous and anxious would be good words to describe me at the moment. I want to jump in and impress but don't want to over step the mark or stuff things up at the same time. Time to step back, take a breath and proceed a little slower. None of the other new team have posted anything yet either, those that are currently posting have been doing so for ages and do so more regularly than the others anyway. Chill pill time :)

I need to send out query letters tonight. I have a dozen or so shorts in the market that need to be followed up on this month.

On top of that I also need to follow up my stories that need to be resubmitted or finished editing or etc, etc. - see, no time.

I need a schedule. Many writers sites shout the virtues of making a writing time and guarding it jealously. It's not a silly suggestion. I once wrote for six hours every night and produced large amounts of work, including the first draft of my fantasy novel "Tigers Eye".

As the weather warmed and the days grew longer, my writing time shrank, whittled away to nothing. With a schedule, I'll have something to guard and plan around. My problem now seems to be that I'm finding things I need to do to ensure I have an opportunity to write. I work through all these things and never seem to actually get to writing! :(

So now that I've recognised the problem I will set a schedule, a negotiated schedule (need the bosses stamp of approval) and then stick to it. That schedule will have time allocated for writing and nothing else.

So priority one for today is to get that timetable set in stone and start getting things done!

What excuses are you using to put off writing or submitting??????

Time to write! Good luck.