Time is a Writer’s Most Critical Asset

The other day I wrote a guest post for the folks at Historical Tapestry who had asked me  whether insights from my historical fiction survey will change my writing plans. As I deliberated, one issue kept leaping of the page – MY MOST PRECIOUS COMMODITY IS TIME.

Of course, this statement is obvious and one that has come to mind before but the issue seems much more compelling since I launched A Writer of History and conducted a major survey. My ‘to do’ list is rather out of control these days leaving only dribbles of time for my novels.

I know I have bum glue. Every morning, coffee in hand, I check into my office around 8:30 and rarely stop until late afternoon. But now there are blog posts to write, interviews to organize, bitly links to tweet, Facebook and LinkedIn and Goodreads groups to check, comments to reply to, Twitter followers to check, emails from readers or other writers who have liked a particular post or have a question about survey results.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not complaining. In fact I’m quite excited about the activity level but I do need to think seriously about whether I am spending time on the right things because as far as I know, no one has invented more than 24 hours in a day.

And at the moment, I feel like a juggler spinning too many plates.

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Meet M.K.Tod

The historical fiction author behind A Writer of History...

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7 Responses

  1. Social media has completely changed the landscape, hasn’t it? Years ago, when I started writing, marketing and platform building, etc. was probably a lot harder – but I wonder if it was as time-consuming? We are told we have to be here, there, and everywhere and honestly, I get tired just thinking about it all.

    At the end of the day, you have to make time to do what you love, and if that means cutting back in other areas, so be it.

    In fact, there is a blog post I read today about how authentic creativity is self-love. Here it is if you want to read it:

    http://www.devacoaching.com/2012/07/06/authentic-creativity-is-self-love/#

    1. What a great post. Many thanks, Melissa. This will help me on days when I’m feeling selfish about my writing. Looks like a blog to check from time to time 🙂

  2. I think it is definitely a matter of balance. I do think it is important to choose what you are going to do and do it well, even if that means that you don’t have every form of social media.

      1. Well, I am not a writer, so for me it is a question of blogging. I have in the past been on Pinterest but have pretty much given up on that. I don’t have a Facebook page, so really what I am concentrating on is the blogs I am part of and Twitter. That is more than enough to keep me busy as well as doing family things and attempting to have something like a life!

        1. Hi again, Marg. I see from your blog that you are active in the book review/discussion world and it looks like you reside in Australia. Welcome from up-over – I imagine that if we call ANZ down-under it must be appropriate to call North America up-over, right? The survey had quite a lot of interest from your fellow citizens as well as the Kiwis – do you concentrate on historical fiction or a wider range of fiction?

      2. I read a bit of everything really, but historical fiction is one of my favourite genres!

        Up Over certainly sounds feasible but it hasn’t caught on quite like Down Under! lol

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