GENREALITY

I’m a mom, spouse, friend, daughter, author, columnist, film and television critic, student, teacher and radio personality. On any given day I can wear all or some of those hats, and I’ve had to learn the fine art of time management. It isn’t easy, especially for someone like me who isn’t overly fond of organization. But in order to do everything I must in a day, I have to be pretty diligent about managing my time.

The most important thing was learning to say “no” to the right things. The things that didn’t make me happy.  I discovered early on that the mom hat was the hardest. I’ve always been very involved with my kids and their schools, but I was careful about the volunteering. I made sure that I was there when I thought I could be a valuable to whatever was going on. I was always there for performances and auditions, and if my children specifically asked me to help with something, I did it.

I’m lucky in that the spouse hat doesn’t take much. My husband is pretty low maintenance, which is a blessing. As a friend, I’m faithful to a few of my friends, but bad about making time for people who I really do care about but our lives run in different circles. But I’m trying to change that. The teaching is also something I’ve cut back on. There was a time a few years ago when I was gone most every weekend teaching at some writing conference or another. I’m pickier these days and I opened the free online Write_Workshop (you can get to that through www.candacehavens.com) so that I could reach the masses in a more effective way. I also bring in other writers, agents and editors to teach so that the workshop doesn’t consume so much of my time.

I’ve added student to my list of duties this fall, and I will tell you it’s been quite an adjustment. I average about 15 hours of homework/reading each week for one class, which is much more than I was expecting. I’ve had to rely on the help of friends and family in other parts of my life in order to make school work.

The biggest part of that life pie is work. I spend an average of 12 hours a day writing books, columns, reviews and blogs, and watching films and television shows. It’s a lot. But when you love it as much as I do, it doesn’t always feel like a chore.

So how do I squeeze all of this into 24-hour days? Sometimes I do it better than others. I honestly can’t remember a time when I wasn’t tired, but I’m not ready to give any of it up. The 20-minute nap is a luxury I covet. Sleep in general is a luxury, but I’m trying to change that.

I did do something long ago that helped a great deal. I rid myself of time-sucks. Things like Scrabble, or Bejewled shouldn’t be a part of the work day. Nor should reading blogs or watching You Tube videos. That’s not to say I don’t still do those things, but I have set time either during lunch or after I’ve finished the day’s writing to play. When you were a kid recess might have been the lovely break you needed during the day. We all need those, but the majority of us would rather play than work. That is especially true for writers. It’s easy for us to do anything BUT write.

It amazes me how many people tell me they don’t have time to write, yet they watch an average of 10 hours of television a week. Do you know how much writing you could get done in 10 hours? Haven’t you people ever heard of DVR or TIVO? Get your work done, then turn on the tube. Or they play War Crack and other computer/video games. Hey, I’m a big fan of “Animal Farm,” and anything where I can kill a zombie, but that stuff is for when the day is done. If you’re going to be productive, you have to get the job done.

My latest thing is playing Pet Rescue on kinggames.com. I swear it’s the lamest game in the world, but for some reason it is extremely relaxing for me. It’s my treat at the end of a long day. There are days when all I want to do is sit on the couch and watch old movies, or HGTV, or something else, and I try to schedule at least one of those a month.

Scheduling is big for me. I have a couple of calendars on the iPhone, the computer and a paper one for just in case. That way I know if I have a movie in the morning or late at night, that I have to adjust the writing to fit that time table. And as I said, I have to be diligent about it.

A friend once said I do more in a day than most people do in a month. I think that’s a bit of an overstatement, it’s probably more like a week. The truth is, I manage my time well. And there’s no reason you can’t do that too.

So let’s have a little confession time. What is your biggest time suck? And what things do you do that help manage your time? Tell me, I want to know.

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