Here are my suggestions:

1. Set realistic goals. This involves knowing how fast and how well you can write. If you write 500 good words per hour and you have one hour a day to write, then don't try to do 1000 words a day.

2. Use your time wisely. Only you know your constraints. Maybe you work an 8 hour day, have two kids, and are trying to get in shape. Where does writing fit in? Perhaps during your lunch break or perhaps on the weekends, but wherever you can find the time make it sacred. You can often get more work done than you think in a given space. Learn to multi-task. If you have a long commute to work and you want to read more consider books on tape.

3. Don't forget you need to sleep. You know perfectly well what the balance between "me time" and "other people time" is. Plenty of stories have been written making fun of the psychological advice that you need to learn to take care of yourself...usually starring a selfish character who thinks he or she is put upon. But the truth behind the advice is that you do need to set aside time for yourself.

4. Never forget what really amtters in life. People are more important the books. Your family matters. I tend to believe that there is room for both family and writing but be realistic and know which is more important.

5. Forget writing advice that does not work for you. Some people say "write every day" but I've seen schedules that simply cannot abide that rule.
5a. BUT...come up with something regular that works for you. If you can only write on Saturday between 9 and noon then write EVERY saturday between 9 and noon.

However, if you want to be a writer, you have to eschew every non-important activity so you have time to become a writer. That means you have to have the discipline to say no to excessive amounts of television and movies and video games and anything else that wastes time.

What I've found helpful is this: Ask yourself why your doing X instead of writing. If your answer is sound--you've already met your daily quota, you're inbetween projects, you're ill and find it hard to concentrate--then go ahead and endulge. But if the answer is unsound--I don't feel like writing today because I'm not inspired or I don't know what's going to happen next--then it's my belief that, if this happens on a regular basis, you need to re-examine your hopes of becoming a writer. Writing is hard and lonely work, and the only way to become a writer is the Butt In Chair principle until that day's work is done.

Of course, I'm not talking about things that are more important than writing--your family, health, etc.

But this is sidling into the land of the homily, so I'll shut up.

To achieve my NYR (read, write, and draw more), I'm trying to spend less and less time in front of a screen, tv, computer, or otherwise. I write on paper, in a 3-ring notebook, because I can't access the internet, or music, or videos I have, so I'm far less distracted. I try to write at night, when everyone's asleep, but I can manage a few sentences during the day. Beyond Just Write, I don't have any set goals.

I have to agree with that statement. Especially when people say "You Can't...". I've noticed that some people think they are experts on everything when the truth is they don't know jack about anything.

The biggest reason people don't write is fear. Fear of failure; fear of ridicule. This rears up in the form of self-doubt and self-criticism, which, it seems to me, is the number one cause of writers block.

According to many, many professional writers, the only way to get past the fear, self-doubt, and self-criticism, is to write your way through it. One of my favorite writing quotes comes from Richard Rhodes (author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb)"

quote:

---

Whatever your purpose, the best remedy for fear of writing, any kind of writing, is the Knickerbocker Rule: ass to chair. If you’re afraid you can’t write, the answer is to write. Every sentence you construct adds weight to the balance pan. If you’re afraid of what other people will think of your efforts, don’t show them until you write your way beyond your fear . . . . When the fear is upon you, write for yourself. It doesn’t matter what you write as long as you do it regularly.

---

quote:

---

You can't stop people from telling you that you can't do something, though. See, you didn't stop me from telling you "you can't". How are you going to avoid letting people do that kind of thing?
You can't

---

You master the fine art of ignoring people. The words go in one ear and if they don't serve my purpose then they just find their way out the other ear and it's as if they had never been spoken.

So, since I am on a break from my writing classes, and have been catching up on reading and only writing notes, I need to do some serious cleaning. I need to get rid of the clutter. I started boxing baby toys, recycling old magazines, and putting things away.

In the past I would have thought I was procrastinating. Then I learned that I get a lot of writing done when the house is clean, and have trouble thinking straight when it is not. A clean house is not the most important thing in the world, but it becomes so when I have no where to work. After succeeding at NaNoWriMo, I know I can produce, so I don't mind devoting some time to cleaning that I normally devote to writing. It is temporary - the holiday mess isn't normal!

I guess it is a feng shui thing, and I find it does make a difference to my thinking, creative output, and actual writing.