Okay, so I said I would make a post about how I spend my time, so all y'all can see that I'm not really as busy as you think, and so I can figure out maybe where I might be more productive. (Yeah, I know... during all the TV time.)
Anyway, since I don't really have a schedule and I pretty much do what I want when I want, here's how my average day might break down...
6:00am - wake up
6-6:15 - bathroom, making coffee, turning on computers, brushing teeth, etc.
6:15-8:00 - surfing the blogosphere and Facebook, reading the news, query stuff
8-9:30 - 1-3 times a week calling Mom, otherwise further internet fun and this is when I do more agent research and sending queries.
9:30-10:30 - not quite sure what I do here...
10:30 - eat lunch while watching TV
10:30 - 6:30 pm - watch TV and read. Sometimes during this stretch, I go outside and fart around with yardwork or woodsmanship.
4:30-5:30 - somewhere in here I make dinner and we eat
6:30 - 9:00 - on a good day, I write in this space. On not-so-good days, I watch more TV and read.
9-10:00 - If I've been writing, I usually stop here and go watch TV and read. If I haven't... well, you know.
9:00-10:00 - I go to bed somewhere in here. Usually about 9:30, but if there's something good on, I'll stay up until ten. If not, and I'm tired, I go to bed at nine.
Other things that can crop up during this schedule are: grocery shopping/errands (which I do in the morning and which usually takes me about 2 hours), cleaning (sporadic at best and again takes me about 2 hours), walks (taken in the afternoon for about an hour), making breakfast (hey, there's something I do between 9:30 and 10:30 - but not every day), baking (again, not every day - but it usually takes about an hour).
In two and half hours of good writing, I can crank out around 3000 words. And if it's a good book, I can read it in one or two sittings. So you see why I seem like I'm being all productive writing-wise and zipping through the books at an ungodly rate, and why I still think I'm a slug.
Yeah, this exercise didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know. That huge chunk of time in the afternoons is where I could increase my productivity. Man, if I had half the drive of some people I know, I could've cured male pattern baldness by now. Or written several more books. Or had a spotless house.
Have you ever done this figuring out where your time is going thing? What's your biggest time wasting activity? How could you be more productive?
Must do this - I know for a fact that I waste a lot of time wandering around the Internet (or playing crosswords). The Day Job keeps me busy most of the day, but it too has down times and, well, I'm in front of the computer - see above! Funny how we know even without looking closely at our time wasters!
ReplyDeleteI don't know how much it helped, Janet. Hey, at least with crosswords, you're exercising your brain. ;o)
DeleteYou have me intrigued about my own days. I think I will have to do a sister post to try it out!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, you need to cut back on the TV time. I don't even know what shows you could watch during those times. Daytime TV is atrocious, woman!
I watch Bones reruns and true-crime shows (Snapped, The Shift, Disappeared, On the Case, Solved, Extreme Forensics, etc.), mostly, with the occasional movie or informational show thrown in. It's not all atrocious. You have to know where to look.
DeleteI've never actually thought about chronicling my day. My days are so all over the place I might have to do a week. Tumblr, Pinterest, Facebook, those are my time sucks. Evil social media. Oh right, and now Instagram. I hope you have a great day today doing what your doing!
ReplyDeleteSocial media can be killer, Karyn. I just confine myself to the blogs and Facebook, but I can still waste a lot of minutes there.
DeleteHave a great day, too!
Karyn, I've never figured out Instagram. LOL
ReplyDeleteMy day? Get up (between 6 and 8, depending), get coffee, hit computer, answer email, check blogs, respond to blogs, try to do some marketing (ie. social media LOL), consider breakfast, get more coffee, let dogs in or out, run errands if I have to get out. Sometime around noon (earlier if I'm lucky and there's not much mail), I sit down to work. Right now, that means edits and revisions which involves getting up and wandering around while I chew over editor comments. Dinner gets started between 5 and 6. Dinner at 7 with TV, sometimes while reading, then more reading in bed until I fall asleep, anywhere from midnight to 4 a.m. I love insomnia. *rolls eyes*
Housework doesn't exist in my world, though the occasional bout of laundry does. Housework is for when people are coming. LOL
See, Silver? That's what I need to do - get started working around noon. But then I'd probably just be shifting my work time from evenings to afternoons and waste time at night. LOL
DeleteI fell asleep around midnight last night after 2 hours of tossing and turning, so I totally hear ya on the insomnia thing... and I still woke up at 6. Bleh.
Housework is for those times when I'm avoiding work and I feel guilty not doing anything productive. Like this morning when I vacuumed the bedrooms and then spent some more time spot cleaning the carpet in the spare room. I don't know what the previous owners did in there, but it's very spotty.