Quantum: I'd say sorting out what your optimum working habits are would be a start. You probably already know but I will blithely prattle on. Variable may include: optimum length of writing stint, what bit of the writing takes the most time (planning, first drafting, editing and corrections, typing up from longhand etc), best state for generating initial ideas, etc.
Personally, I have been trying to sort this out. Now I know when I can work on what bits - I have to do first drafts in peace and quiet in stretches of more then half an hour, but I can do editing on a train, and type up corrections in lunchbreaks and teabreaks at work.
As a result, I've been squeezing a lot of space out of a day where I didn't previously notice it. I work in my lunchbreak and for an hour after work, usually, at my desk, so I get two hours done even if I then shove off and do nothing else.
This works well so after September, I hope to get a job which I work in the mornings and early afternoons, then get off fresh as a button to write in the afternoons. Rather than working all day for four days a week and then having all Friday to myself (when I'd probably wake up late, go shopping or chocolate and not extract a proper eight hours out of the available). Your habits may be totally the reverse, so getting a job that starts early and finishes late on less days of the week might be more use.
This may be so obvious that it's like the money-saving tips that tell me not to buy Chanel handbags - you may already be rising before dawn to prepare tasks for your fictional maidens. But I thought it was worth saying. Particularly because 'work in those small unnoticed spaces' always struck me as a crap bit of advice - I thought I needded them to recover from work - but it does work for me - it gives me a sense of achievement and doesn't drain my energy much.
Also, top tip: typing bloody fast. I learnt when younger, and it's invaluable. The mechanical speed of writing may be an intrinsic part of you |
