Thursday, March 9, 2017

The Trouble with Typical

Look at your typical day*

Do you have a set time daily to put in at least ten minutes? Can you have more than one ten-minute session a day?

What the heck is a typical day?
  • Get up at 5 (ish), wake up/breakfast/walk the dog/get ready/no really get ready!/pack the lunches/grab coffee to go/check the weather/damn, still getting ready!/Off we go!
  • Get to work aroun 8 (ish) and get ready/set up the classroom/catch up on email/answer questions/start teaching
  • Break at 10:30 (ish) check email for fires/answer student questions/prep for after break
  • Lunch at 12 (ish - you get the idea, it's all 'ish')  check email again/respond to other work requests/meet with coworkers for lunch (important bonding/connecting)
  • Break at 2:30 (ish) check email for fires/answer student questions/prep for after break
  • Wrap up at 4 - clean up classroom/prep for next day....

I am tired just writing it. But it isn't unusual. So how am I writing this? At lunch, before grabbing food, before heading into the lunch-room. Alone in the classroom, taking 10 minutes for me to write this post.

That is the secret. Time for me. And my time is precious. It is irreplaceable. Which it why I spend as much of it with Pam as I physically, digitally, realistically can. Thirty-one years of marriage and I still can't spend enough time with her.

Writing is a distant 2nd. But it is 2nd, which means that times like these, when I simply can't spend my time with her, are the times I have to write. Right now, it is once a day. Once the dog has moved on (going back to my daughter), we may have more flexibility, and more flexibility means possibly more 10 minute gaps into which I can wedge more writing.

As for learning about the craft, that is what I use audio books for while in the car or on the treadmill. And for writerly thoughts, the voice-recorder allows me to capture inspiration anytime, anywhere. But writing? Once a day is all I can manage just yet, and I am devoting that time to 'sharpening the saw.' The writing will come soon enough.


* From Part 1 - Chapter 1 - Envisioning and Planning

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