This is K.M. Wyland and you are listening to the 645 episode of the Helping Writers Become Authors

podcast. I hope you enjoyed this week's episode 14 do's and don'ts of

time management for writers from a recovering overachiever.

For many of us writing is one of the most important things in our lives and yet it can be all too easy to let that most important thing

end up at the bottom of our to-do list. If yet another day has passed in which you haven't been able to write, or a day in which you did write, but getting it done was a struggle, you're not alone.

Time management for writers is possibly one of the key skills of the lifestyle.

This is true whether you write full time or write around your full time responsibilities. I've always been a schedule hacker and

someone who tries to make every minute count. I've also been someone who

constantly laments that there isn't just one more hour in the day.

Time management is something of an obsession for me probably because it's a game you never

completely win.

In years past I've gone down the overachiever path of

absolutely flying through my days trying to cram in as much as possible and

there are seasons when this is effective or even unavoidable, but eventually it becomes

unsustainable. I've also gone through seasons in which circumstances dictated I do as little as possible.

But that too is unsustainable over the long term.

Inevitably, the sweet spot is found in balance.

Each person's balance is different depending on

personality, health, goals, obligations, and other factors. No matter what your

lifestyle, the demands of the modern day keep us busy and

distracted and this can be especially challenging for a creative who needs

down time to breathe and think and wander, as well as concentrated go time in which to enforce discipline and actually

...