Decanting Time

Planning and Purpose*

Time is all we have that is ever truly ours, and it is the one thing that we spend without care or consequence. So this post is especially focused on the idea of how i am choosing to spend the precious little moments that are strung together.

I sit at my dining room table as I write this. It is about 930 in the evening, the chores are all done and Pam and I have sat together and talked and watched a few favourite shows. As she sits here with me, completing her daily journal, I take a moment to just jot down some thoughts about time.

While we are not retired (that is still 20 or so years away) we are independent. No children at home, and one cat who pretty much takes care of himself. There are the basic chores to do, and some cooking, but the rest is pretty routine and accomplished pretty quickly.

Ten minutes? Sure I have got ten minutes. I have got HOURS! But do I write during those hours? Not until recently. I am counting these blog posts as writing, but eventually, I see the exercises from the 10 Minutes Novelists leading to more writing of my actual project.

Pam and I recently (yesterday) actually had a conversation about the fact that I WANT to write the sequel. We've agreed that April, during Camp Nanowrimo, I will be writing while she keeps working on her degree. It is going to be an interesting time. Not because it will be difficult, but because it will be different.

Next up, I need to take some time to outline my novel. It doesn't have to be much of an outline, just a beginning, an ending, and some spots in between. I think I am going to forgo alpha readers this time though. I want to write for me. So there it is. Time. I have it, it is just about how I choose to spend it. No negotiations, no real planning required.

I still make time for the most important things however. Date nights, at least once a week. Time visiting or playing games with the kids. Overtime for work to keep the axe sharp. All of that is doable. More that doable, it is required. But it doesn't mean that I am taking up all of my time doing them. There is always a little left over.

It is the time in between times that is the most precious though. The time when my creative brain is occupied with driving or walking or just sitting there. It is during those time that my story grows, but only if I am thinking about the story in the first place. So the time is now to start thinking about the sequel. Now.

"As we made our approach to Paradise Station, Darwin kept his usual keen sense trained on every moment and maneuver of the shuttle. Usual for Darwin meant that he was actively napping in the seat next to me. If you don't know what I mean by actively napping, you haven't spent nearly enough time around a cat. It means that the cat is watchful, wary, sensitive to all movement and changes, while remaining curled up comfortably. Just watch the alertness in your cat's eye the next time they open it to track your every move. Some people find it unnerving. Given Darwin's size, I really don't blame them."

*This post is a response to all of the planning and time management questions in Chapter 2.