Writing Life Focus–Three Big Chunks

I have been reading Randy Ingermanson’s Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine forever, or for at least a few years. This week held an article called Three Big Chunks that I thought was very interesting and relevant to those of us here trying to set up routines so that we can write more.

What did I think was so cool about it? In the last year as I’ve focused more and more on organizing my time and routines, my “writing chunk” has gotten bigger. It’s taken time and energy and focus, but compared to this time last year…I might even call writing one of my big chunks. Yay. It kind of snuck up on me.

Here is the article for you to check out yourself:

Organizing: Three Big Chunks

The biggest problem many writers face is the clock. No
matter who you are, no matter how important you are, no
matter how smart you are, your day still has only 24
hours in it. You and Bill Gates both have exactly the
same amount of time in each day.

The crucial difference is that Bill has enough money
socked away so he can do what he wants. Most writers
don’t have that luxury. We’ve got day jobs. Families.
Hobbies, sports, and entertainment. Church or synagogue
or PTA or the Moose Club. We’re also supposed to sleep,
exercise, eat right, enjoy a bit of fun once in a
while, and floss.

Somewhere in all that chaos, we also need to write.

Some writers find a way to make it work; others don’t.
What makes the difference between those who do and
those who don’t?

I have a theory on that. It’s only a theory, but it’s
based on watching working writers work. It’s based on
watching myself work. It’s based on twenty years of
watching.

Here’s my theory. If writing is one of the three big
chunks in your life, then you have a good chance of
successfully writing fiction. If not, then you don’t.

What’s a “big chunk?” That’s easy to define. It’s where
your time goes. Look at the things you do, other than
sleeping and eating. How much time do you spend on each
one? The things you spend the most time on are your
“big chunks.”

If you work a day job eight hours a day, plus a
one-hour commute each way, then your day job is taking
up ten hours per day, and that’s your biggest chunk.

If you’re a stay-at-home-mom and you’re spending twelve
hours a day taking care of three kids, then that’s your
biggest chunk.

Those are the two most common big chunks I’ve seen in
writer’s lives. There are any number of others that
aren’t quite so big, but which combine to fill up your
life. Take an inventory of your own life. How many
hours per week do you spend on each of these:

* Job
* Family duties
* House, yard, or garden
* Church, synagogue, or other group activities
* TV, video games, or other electronic entertainment
* Exercise
* Reading
* Writing
* ________ (fill in that pesky blank)

Now let’s be clear about one thing. Most of these are
Good Things. Some of them, in fact, are Great Things. A
few of them are Mediocre Things or possibly even
Useless Things. It really doesn’t matter.

What matters for you, as a fiction writer, is that your
chances of success in publishing go way up if writing
is one of your three biggest chunks.

Is it remotely possible that you can get published if
writing is #4 or #5 on your list? Yeah, sure, it’s
possible. It’s possible you could run a marathon on a
training base of only 10 miles a week. But you wouldn’t
do nearly as well as you would if you were putting in
40 or 50 miles every week. There aren’t very many
certainties in life, so it makes sense to tilt the odds
in your favor.

So my rule of thumb for success in fiction is to make
writing one of the three biggest chunks in your life.
I’ve got nothing against any of those other things. But
the fact is that most writers who sell their first
novel are writing at least 10 hours per week, and many
are writing 20.

Let me clarify one thing. Very few writers start out
writing 10 or 20 hours per week. Most writers start the
way I did, doing an hour here and an hour there. Most
writers work up to the 10 hour level over a year or two
or five. But they rarely get published until they reach
that level.

Your life only has room for so many big chunks. So here
are some questions I’ll leave for you to ponder:

* Is writing one of the three biggest chunks in your
life?

* What changes would you have to make in your life to
make writing one of your Big Three?

* If you can’t make those changes instantly, can you
shift things gradually over the next six months?

* Would it damage your life to make those changes?

Now let me switch gears and point out the opposite
hazard. What would happen if you sold a novel for so
much money that you could quit your day job and spend
all your time writing? Wouldn’t that be GREAT?

Well . . . maybe. The thing is that fiction writing is
about real life, or something pretty similar to real
life. You always need something to write about, and for
most writers, that comes from their own life.

What that means is that if you were to spend all your
time writing, you’d probably run out of things to write
about. Most of the working fiction writers I know have
something else going on in their life. Writing may be
their day job, but it’s not the only thing they do.

My theory is that even when you reach nirvana and
writing is your #1 big chunk, you still need to have a
couple of other major things going on in your life that
feed your imagination. Writers need to get out, do
things, interact with the Muggles.

Not too many other things. Three big chunks seems to be
about right.

That’s my theory. It’s only a theory. It’s based on
plenty of experience, but it’s still at best only a
rule of thumb.

Now the final question for you is whether this theory
suggests an action plan you could make right now. If
so, then go to it. Nothing ever happens until you take
action.

Award-winning novelist Randy Ingermanson, “the
Snowflake Guy,” publishes the Advanced Fiction Writing
E-zine, with more than 17,000 readers, every month. If
you want to learn the craft and marketing of fiction,
AND make your writing more valuable to editors, AND
have FUN doing it, visit
http://www.AdvancedFictionWriting.com.

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