What is a flash story? One that is over before it has time to become boring? Or a good piece of concise writing that can give the reader an insight into a world through words. I’ve tried to write like this and found my story couldn’t find a conclusion but had to grow from one episode to the next. Like my crazy queen size blanket. Each section was only five hundred words in length but the story eventually became lost to my never-ending battle with my own inability to finish anything. But my blanket has a different story. Each crocheted patch was nearly the same size, but when I joined them together they ended up being round and not square. To make it square I had to add on pieces of a different shape so I could edge it with a finish. With my writings all unfinished or in need of the hard edit I turned away from creative writing and played games at the screen just to stop myself from becoming depressed. Things had to change.
So, I stopped writing and took up crocheting and finished a queen size blanket in six weeks. The finishing of that project helped me realize that if only I put in a constant effort into my writings I will finish them.
Time management is the writer’s best friend, as is planning. My blanket was not planned and it also took up the bulk of my waking life much to the detriment of my family life, but at least I was sitting with them and interacting which is more than I was doing when writing. So how do I manage my writing life and still have a family life or a social one? Time which is structured and a good plan to stick to a working arrangement of at least one hour a day just to write. This is now my goal to only give an hour a day to writing regardless of if it is just writing, or the endless editing I must achieve to bring my stories to a conclusion.
Now how do I decide to just write or edit or could it be a bit of both?
The next question is: what hour is best for me to do this? In the morning? Or in the afternoon when all the house is at peace before the family arrive home? Night time is totally off the agender as my other half must have his time and my mind is fried from cooking dinner. The morning hours are difficult as I need to do the house work. After lunch it is then, before three on weekdays. On the weekend I may find it harder to find that hour but if I remain flexible and have my weekends to myself and family I can add on a half an hour on the week day sessions to make up that time.
The answer to all this musing is flexibility and balance to my plan for my writing life.
rosewriter3 