I have a confession to make. I’ve had plenty of time to write in the last two years, but I’ve gotten very little done. I read about people who have penned their novels between the hours or 3 and 5 A.M. before they’ve gone off to their day jobs, and I have to hang my head in shame.

I think that part of my problem is that I have so much time that I haven’t found it necessary to devote any of it to specific projects. When I wrote on my novel last month from 1-5 every day, I got a lot done. But I can’t just keep on writing each day on one book, because I need time between scenes to let things stew so I know how to move forward.

I also, for many years, have wanted to work on some shorter projects, but I never seem to get around to them.

So this year, I’ve decided to set aside times to work on specific projects instead of just saying I’ll write on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or I’ll write every day between 1-5.

I downloaded a cool calendar for my blog, and I put on that the projects I want to work on any given day. I added in deadlines, too. I was going to post it privately, but then I decided to make it public and post it in my sidebar as on a page called Deadlines under my Writing Tips page. I did this in case you, dear reader, wanted to go to the calendar page and click on the top on the dark purple link that reads “deadlines” (where it says, “show type”). If you do that, you will be able to scroll through the months and find deadlines for the contests I’m entering, which you might want to enter, too. If you click on the item in the calendar that interests you, a new window will pop up to tell you more about that item and to give you a link to the contest website.

I’m not posting this calendar as a way to make myself accountable. This is not about accountability but about organization. What I’m hoping is that when I sit down on any given day and open up my calendar, because I have written down the two things I’m going to work on, I will be able to work on those two things, without getting distracted and clicking on links and wondering if I should perhaps write for a local parenting magazine or check out the Cheerios contest (again! I check it and find I’m not eligible and then several months later I’ve forgotten and I check it again.). I hope that by assigning myself specific work to do each day, I’ll get something done this year. I don’t care if I sell stories or win contests—I want to produce, though. I think if I say, “today I am going to spend two hours on the Christmas story for Highlights,” I’ll write that story. For the past three years I’ve said, “this year sometime, I will write that Christmas story for Highlights,” and I’ve never gotten around to it.

I’m really excited about a nonfiction book proposal I want to work on this year. I’ve wanted to do this for a while and I’ve never set aside the time to do it.

I want to write a little more this year and pretend to write a little less. Or…I guess I mean, I want to do a little less pretending.

What about you? How do you organize your time? Do you have multiple projects going or do you work on one thing at a time?

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