Note from the Editor: The following post is taken from Writer’s Time: Management That Works. This eprogram functions with an open enrollment. Register today to find more memoir writing time. How do you spend your memoir writing time? Your commitment to your memoir is the engine that will propel your writing to completion. Awareness of how […]

Note from the Editor: The following post is taken from Writer’s Time: Management That Works. This eprogram functions with an open enrollment. Register today to find more memoir writing time.

How do you spend your memoir writing time? Your commitment to your memoir is the engine that will propel your writing to completion. Awareness of how effectively you spend your time—and the increasing skill with which you make use of your time—is the vehicle that will get your memoir written more quickly.

Too many writers feel hedged by feelings of “not enough time.” This perception of scarcity creates tension and anxiety, and both of these feelings impinge on the expansiveness creators need to do their best work.

While your memoir writing time in this life is limited, it is also true that, on a creative level, time can seem timeless—and it is to this abundant sense of time that you need to connect to.

Your memoir writing time can be plentiful!

Time need not be an oppressive overbearing element in your life. It can be a bountiful gift. You can have all the time you need to write your memoir—if you stay in the moment.

When staying in the moment, you will find time expanding—at least, your sense of time will feel expanded.

When I wrote my flagship book, Turning Memories Into Memoirs / A Handbook for Writing Lifestories, I learned quickly that, if I persisted in thinking in terms of writing an entire 270-page book, I would soon get discouraged.

When I did not stay in the moment but focused on how much and how long I still had to write, creating the book seemed monumental, endless, and I would be at it forever.

I decided to stay in the moment. Instead of dwelling on having to write a whole book, I realized, on a given day, I could write a couple of pages and call it quits.

You have the same choice. You can be oppressed with trying to write a 250-page memoir as soon as possible or you can sit down today and rough out the conversation with your aunt Eva in which you decided you were going to pursue your dream of being an operating-room nurse. For tomorrow’s memoir writing time, you can move on to another task.

Rethink memoir writing time

If you can write three pages in a scheduled writing session, you can presume to produce three pages of rough draft text on any given day.

If you have in mind to produce a 250-page book then it will take you roughly eighty-three writing sessions.

If you write three sessions per week, it will take you twenty-eight weeks to produce a first draft of 250 pages. Twenty-eight weeks adds up to only seven months of writing.

Seven months into the future may seem long but think back to seven months ago. Does that seem so distant? I don’t know about you, but seven months ago is still vivid in my mind. If seven months in the past does not seem so long ago, then why should seven months into the future be longer?

Chunk down your writing so that on any given day you are writing a small amount, a scene, or an introduction to a story. Make optimum use of your memoir writing time.

In conclusion

How do you spend your memoir writing time?  Are you wasting time?  Staying in the moment is just one efficiency hack use can apply to your writing time. There are more tips and strategies in Writer’s Time: Management That Works Program.