Writing Schedule

This morning marks the start of the Fall 2017 semester at my university (yes, I know it’s still only August), and this means that it’s time for me to come up with a writing schedule for the term.

I’m someone who lives and dies by lists and timelines; without them, I simply fritter away minutes, and the minutes turn into hours.  This fall I have a heavy teaching schedule, lots of students, and a number of administrative duties so the name of the game is going to be juggling.  Meh. I dislike juggling. I much prefer to concentrate on one thing at a time. Still, task by task, I can still do that. It’s all possible.

Mondays and Tuesdays are my long days on campus, so primary writing days need to be Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Sounds simple … except that once the semester gets well under way, there will be a crap-ton of grading, student contact hours, committee work,  conferences, and those things are no respecters of idealized calendars. Sometimes they will intrude on my writing time.

Nevertheless, writing is a priority for me, so I will carve out time to do it — and I’ll make every effort to write something daily, even during those on-campus days.

This is how I finished a dissertation, a book, a novel, assorted essays and articles, after all.

Step by step.

Onward.