What Teacher Writers Can Teach You About Time Management

I’m honored to be at Seekerville today offering tips on time management. At the end of May, I completed my twentieth year as a middle school ELA teacher. One thing I’ve learned is that better time management is something most of us can improve upon. 

At the start of each school year, I spend the first week doing several activities with my students that are designed to help them learn time management skills to keep them from being overwhelmed. Seventh grade tends to be one of the most difficult years for students as they are learning to balance social activities (school dances, ballgames, and hanging out with friends), extra-curricular activities (basketball, football, band, clubs, etc.), and a more strenuous course load. 

Today, I’ve called on a few multi-published, award-winning authors to provide tips to help relate the lessons to a writer’s life. 

Lesson 1: Examine How You’re Spending the Majority of Your Time

Before you can manage your time, you must first know where you’re wasting time. This activity is simple. Keep a log (for one week) to show how you spend your time. This does not have to be detailed. Keep it simple. 

The goal is to see how much time you’re spending being nonproductive. I’m not saying you can’t ever watch T.V. or play games, but three or four hours a day is excessive if you’re sincere about making your writing dreams a reality. 


Lesson 2: Prioritize What’s Important in Your Life

Set time aside for writing, instead of only writing during the remnants of your day when you’re drained from everything else life has thrown at you. 

 “When I was teaching, I had to carve out time in my day to write. I tried to write every day even if it was only a few hundred words. That way, I kept myself immersed in my story without having to do a lot of catch-up reading. Also, I set weekly goals for writing, not daily. Sometimes life happens and if I can't write one day, I can make up the word count over another day or several. A weekly goal takes the pressure off of a daily goal.” – Margaret Daley

“Figure out what you’re willing to sacrifice. T.V.? Sleep? What? Never family time. To keep your kids from resenting the time you spend writing, make sure you’ve allotted a set amount of time for them each day.” – Lynette Eason


Lesson 3: Squeeze Extra Time Into Your Day

You might wonder how it’s possible to “squeeze” more writing time into your day. After all, each day only has twenty-four hours and a certain number of those are non-negotiable, right? I mean some people (Ruthy and Tina come to mind) may be able to function on less than six hours of sleep per night, but personally, I have to have a minimum of seven hours of sleep to be able to function and stay healthy. 


Linda Goodnight offers the following advice on multi-tasking and shortcuts for time management: Excellent time management is important for all of us, but for teachers with families who work long after the bell rings, it’s crucial for our mental health! So how did I build a writing career, win teacher of the year twice, and raise three teenagers all at the same time? Here are some things that worked for me:

1. Multi-task. Save time by doing double duty everywhere you can. 
-Help with homework while cooking or folding laundry. 
-Plan lessons, grade papers, edit books in the car on the way to a game or other event. (Only if someone else is driving! Lol) 
-Use time in doctor’s offices or other appointments the same way. Always have your work with you.

2. Crockpot meals – Our family believes strongly in the family dinner table so I cook every single night. Having a stack of go-to Crockpot recipes helps tremendously.

3. Grocery shop only once a week or less. Keep a running list on the fridge and try to shop during the store’s slow times. It’s amazing how much time we spend in check-out lines!

To continue with Linda’s tip on Crockpot meals, I’d like to invite you to check out my Freezer Meals board on Pinterest. My younger sister, who’s also a teacher, introduced me to freezer meal planning. At the end of each summer, she spends one Saturday afternoon and in a matter of a few hours, she’s made enough frozen crockpot meals and breakfast burritos to get her family of five through the first full month of the school year. 

Lesson 4: Protect Your Writing Time

Most likely, this will be the hardest lesson of all. If you’re like me, you probably have a difficult time telling other people “no” and that can really cut into your writing time. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t volunteer at your child’s school. However, whenever possible, schedule activities around your writing time and not vice versa. If your best writing time is in the evening, then don’t volunteer to chaperone the school dance. Instead, maybe, you could volunteer work for an hour or two at the Saturday morning bake sale.  

Author and homeschool teacher/mom Lynn Huggins Blackburn offers the following advice:

1. Make the effort to determine how/when you write best and then work WITH that knowledge, not against it. For example, when I’m starting a project or have been away from one for a while, I know I need a chunk of time to get the ball rolling again. It’s worth it to me to do whatever I have to do to get several uninterrupted hours to focus on the story or tackle a big revision. 

2. Once I begin a project, I try to work on it at least five days a week. Even ten minutes of effort a day will keep the story moving forward and will keep me from needing a huge chunk of time to get things moving again.

3. Work in batches. If at all possible, I take a couple of days a month to write blog posts, create memes, and save images for social media and then the rest of my writing time is focused on fiction. It’s far more efficient to knock all of it out at once than it is to try to do a bit of everything each day. 

Lesson 5: Use a Planner

Even though I have a smartphone and I log every appointment in my digital calendar, I love, love, love planners and bullet journals. I keep my planner in my bag and take it with me everywhere. At a glance, I’m able to keep track of deadlines and goals, as well as appointments and other obligations. 


“Before I had children of my own, I taught first grade. After our girls were in middle and high school, I substitute taught. Those years in the classroom were a tutorial in time management. With a limited amount of time each day to cover a curriculum that prepared students for success, I learned to plan the work, set priorities and stay on task. Admittedly, the profession is unusual in that teachers are confined a good part of the day, generally with few opportunities to email, roam the Internet or make phone calls. Even restroom breaks can be hard to come by. Still, teachers must handle behavior issues and fit lessons in between recess, lunch and special classes, always keeping an eye on the clock. Writers don’t have a ringing bell to announce the start of their day. Household chores and interruptions vie for their attention. But when writers follow the example of teachers, we’ll reach our goals, meet our deadlines and grab our dreams.” – Janet Dean



I’ve brought an endless pot of coffee and an assortment of cheesecake. Pick a flavor…I’m sure it’s here. Then pull up a chair and visit for a spell. 

I’d love to know, what time management techniques do you use to keep life on track? 

One commenter today will win The Happy Planner by Create 365 along with motivational stickers and tiny binder clips. All you have to do to be entered is mention in the comments that you’d like your name put into the drawing. Winner announced in the Weekend Edition.

Rhonda Herren Starnes lives in North Alabama with her husband, who she lovingly refers to as Mountain Man. They have been married for thirty-two years and have two grown children and three grandchildren. Grandbaby number four is due in November.

 Rhonda is an ELA teacher with twenty years of experience. Other than the obvious task of teaching her students how to read, write, and communicate effectively, she sees her number one goal as an educator to be that of a motivator. She wants her students to learn, by her example, to go after their dreams. 

Although Rhonda has dreamed of being published ever since she was in seventh grade and read her first romance novel (many moons ago), it wasn’t until four years ago that she actually sat down and attempted to write. Now she weaves stories of romantic suspense with rugged heroes and feisty heroines. 

Awards/Accomplishments: 
• 2014 Love Inspired Suspense Killer Voices, finalist. 
• 2015 Love Inspired Suspense Blurb to Book, finalist. 
• 2016 Wisconsin Fab Five Silver Quill Award,  Inspirational Category Winner. 
• 2016 ACFW Genesis, semi-finalist.

https://www.facebook.com/RhondaHerrenStarnes/
https://twitter.com/Rhonda_Starnes
www.rhondaherrenstarnes.com

WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS

Hello Seekerville and Happy Thanksgiving week.

Are you all like me, preparing for the big day?

Are you having fun with visiting family members? My family has been enjoying the beautiful Southwest Desert weather. We have been hiking the Superstition Mountains, swimming every day and playing pickleball. Yep, we have some family hooked on it also.  And yesterday we had a fun picnic at Saguaro Lake.

Sandra hiking Hieroglyphic Trail 

Today I’d like to talk about how writing what you know can bring about surprising results. I have put out a big pot of chocolate velvet coffee and I have been baking pies. There are pumpkin, pecan, apple and cherry pies so help yourself.  Oh yes, there is tea and hot chocolate for those non-coffee drinkers.

Last month I talked about the Seven Reasons to Keep on Writing. The main reason I was motivated when I started writing was to escape a stressful job as a kindergarten teacher. I loved the little darlings, so they weren’t the cause of my stress. The cause stemmed from my school’s involvement in a revolutionary (at the time) paradigm shift in methodology that was proving quite successful.

We saw ancient petroglyphs on the trail

Our inner city bilingual students were achieving quite well and the Arizona State University professors that were helping us wanted to promote the methodology so our classrooms became showcases. This of course upped the student success ratio because who won’t perform for an admiring audience? (We’re talking five year olds-chuckle) And this led to more observation, which btw, included the governor of Arizona, teachers from all over the United States and even teachers from other countries. Our success was amazing, but so was the stress level.

Siphon Draw Trail in Superstition Mountains with a coyote sundial in foreground

The key element of this holistic approach to teaching was the writing process. Before we started using this method, the professors told us we needed to write so we could teach writing. When we asked what we were supposed to write, they told us to write what you love to read.  Hello.  I devoured romance novels at the time. I started my first novel (which still gathers dust) and fell in love with writing. I discovered writing romance is more fun than reading romance.

It took about five years before Harlequin Temptation offered me my first contract. And by then, I was so exhausted from the madhouse of our popularity that I took sabbatical leave and wrote full time. This was in the eighties. And since we are naturally going to write what we know, I wrote my second Harlequin Temptation about Angela, a teacher who was defending her revolutionary teaching method.

Ricardo, the hero and big-time news reporter in Phoenix, had made it out of the barrio. His goal was to help others out of the barrio so he became a school board member. He hears about Angela’s radical changes within the system and decides he better check this out.

Balance Rock at top. Teddy bear cholla look fuzzy but they are SHARP

If any of you have ever been in a whole language classroom, you know that it looks like chaos if you don’t know what you are looking at. Ricardo is immediately attracted to Angela, but is horrified with her teaching methods. Angela must defend and prove her methodology to the attractive board member.

Pickleball at Prospect Park

WHAT HAPPENED?

Now I did not write this book to promote the whole language methodology. I wrote it to make money as a romance writer so I could quit my day job and write. But here is what happened. Several University professors used this book in their methodology classes to show what the whole language classroom should look like. Is that hysterical or what? My Harlequin Romance became required reading.

The problem with this scenario is that at that time, before e-book and print-on-demand publishing, those books were only out there for about six weeks. Then they were unattainable.  Because the professors wanted to use them, I obtained the rights back and printed them in a vanity press.

Picnic at Saguaro Lake

During this sabbatical, I had my epiphany and thankfully renewed my relationship with the Lord. Therefore, when I reprinted A Flower For Angela, I changed the title and took out all the graphic sex. Now I have to admit, one of the professors was not happy about that. I think he would read from the book and “accidentally” quote a sex scene instead of a scene with the methodology and of course would get him the laughs and attention. But I am forever thankful that I now have a sweet romance with my name on it. And I am forever thankful that I wrote my Harlequin Temptations with a pseudonym.  And I’m not telling. Smile

Another point of interest about this book is the cover art. At that time, all covers were made from a painting. Publishers hired artists to paint the cover, so it would have the quality to photograph and print. My dad was a painter and I asked him to paint the cover. Roses play a big part in this story so I asked Dad to paint roses on a black background. He did a beautiful job, but informed me afterwards, that roses are the most difficult flower to paint and couldn’t I have used another flower?  I love this cover. In fact, I have the original painting hanging in my office.

So that is the story of my debut into writing and also the story behind this “new” release on Amazon. A Flower For Angela hasn’t been used by universities in years as the professors moved on to other methodology, but I thought since it was written, I should put it back out there as it was originally intended—a sweet romance.


WHAT I LEARNED AND CAN SHARE FOR YOUR USE NOW

I thought I was supposed to write. I wanted to write. I was highly motivated to write. I did write and get published, but as it turned out, I was still working in my profession. I thought since I’d had my epiphany, that God would let me write about Him. He would take me out of the classroom. Wrong. I learned to never assume what God’s plan is for you.  You will follow His plan whether you want to or not. Smile

As it turned out, my writing skills came in handy. I went back to teaching but changed grades. (I couldn’t bend down and tie shoes anymore. LOL) I finished my last years teaching Language Arts in Junior High. My students won writing awards and did publish their own books.

But I had some serious questions. You would think that this was all about the methodology. By the time I went back to teaching, a new methodology was getting attention. I asked God and He did not fail in answering. And this is the verse He brought to mind. Mark 11:23  “Amen, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it shall be done for him.”

I said out loud that those students would succeed. I believed those students would succeed. I had no doubts and they did succeed. In fact, it really didn’t matter what methodology I was using, it was my belief that they would succeed that encouraged them to do well.

This is a lesson that applies to our writing as well. Say out loud “I will succeed as an author.” Do not doubt in your heart and do believe that what you say will happen. Or you can say, “I will be a best selling author.”   Or “I will be a full time writer.”  The secret is to believe in your heart and do not doubt. These words and beliefs will be your motivation and your inspiration to write.

Those of you finishing up your month of Na No Wr Mo and those of you like me, who are lucky to eek out a few minutes to write with all the holiday family gathering, lets use that verse from Mark and lay claim to our success as writers.

Say it.

Do not doubt.

Believe it.

A Flower For Angela is once again available on Amazon. I would be happy to send a free copy to anyone who will write a review for Amazon. Please remember that writing a review does not mean to write a book report. It simply means giving the book stars (hopefully 4 or 5) and then writing a couple of sentences or more about why you like the book.

If you would like to have a copy, please email me via the Seekerville addie and I will gladly send you a free copy to review.

As Debby mentioned yesterday.  Keep Seeker books in mind for Christmas gifts.

We have our Contemporary Holiday Anthology

And look at all the others.  Woo hooo

Teachers as Writers-Why They’re a Good Fit

by Jewell Tweedt

Exactly 30 years ago I was a disillusioned young teacher looking to make a career change. Searching through help wanted ads I came across a job listing for a Merchandising Assistant. Now I didn’t know what that was but I did have some retail experience and a lot of chutzpah. I applied for the job, was interviewed by the president of the discount chain, and got the position. I spent fifteen years with the organization and received several promotions. Why was I successful? Because as a teacher I had skills that transferred: I was organized, I was creative and most importantly, I could follow through.

The skills that are useful as a teacher also help in business and writing is a business. It’s creative and fluid but also a business. Writers produce a product and market it, if they finish the darn book.

Organization- Teachers juggle curriculum, meetings, parents, discipline and instruction. Most of them are trying to get better at their profession. Writers juggle their stories, interviews, signings, self-discipline (sometimes I’d rather go outdoors), writing and re-writing. They are always trying to improve their product and themselves.

Creativity-Teachers are always looking for new methods to interest their students and themselves. They research new sources, and collaborate with others. Writers are always looking for new ways to tell a story, write it better and collaborate with writers through local groups and national organizations.

Click to Buy

Inspiration can come at any time and any place. This year as I was teaching a unit on American westward expansion I told my students about how women made money during the California Gold Rush by cooking and sewing for miners. Some women became quite wealthy.

 

As I looked out over my group of teenagers I asked, “What if a teenage girl got stranded in a rough camp. How would she survive?”  The ensuing discussion led to my latest book, Gold in My Pocket-A Gold Rush Diary. Laura Webb is a fifteen year old who is stranded in Black Gulch, California with no family, few friends and gold in her pocket. Over a three year period she defends her honor, supports herself and finds her own way (and some romance).   

This book was easy to write and to finish: I had the background knowledge, primary sources and about 75 female students to pull character traits from. Plus I’ve written a series called The Back to Omaha Adventures so I had some experience to draw from.

Follow-through- Not only do teachers plan, they instruct and assess. That takes preparation and time. Then assessments are given, work is evaluated and recorded. That takes follow-through. This past year I had 140 students under my tutelage. How did I manage that AND write a book? By having a plan and setting a time to write. Each afternoon after school and before I started chores and dinner I’d write. For 45 minutes I’d write as much as I could in the diary. After dinner I’d edit and rewrite. Then I put it away. Life balance is important otherwise it’s too easy to get overwhelmed.

Effective writers know that too. Everything takes longer than it should. Work needs to be edited and the darn book must get finished! Changes occur with titles, covers, even agents and publishers. But isn’t that true in most endeavors? It doesn’t matter if you’ve never earned an educator license, everyone teaches someone or something and can develop these qualifications.  Take a look at your organization, creativity, and follow-through and you’ll see why you as a teacher and a writer are a good fit.

~~~~~

Leave a comment to get your name in a drawing for Jewell's Christmas novel, When Christmas Bells are Ringing.

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When Christmas Bells are Ringing is the fourth and final book in the popular Back to Omaha Adventures Series.

Widow Connie Simonson is too busy with her restaurants and an active son to even consider a romance.

Dr. James Connor is so dedicated to healing the townspeople of Omaha that he forsakes his own needs.

But Christmas is coming and a mysterious stranger can't help but interfere-she answers to a higher calling.

 

Time is running out-can she deliver a second chance for love as Christmas bells are ringing?

\\

 

 

 

Gold in My Pocket

March 27, 1850 Dear Diary, Papa struck it rich this morning! He found his nugget. It weighs over seven pounds. He came racing into the store to show me before he went to the assayer’s office. It looks like a big ugly rock to me but he was cradling it against his bony chest like a baby. I wanted to go with him but he said it was too dangerous. He’ll be back to take me to dinner at a new café to celebrate. I can’t wait. I’m going to go wash my hair and press my best calico dress. Maybe now I’ll have my papa back. I’m going to try and convince him to take me east, on the next wagon train or ship. We’ll build that cottage and we’ll be a family again. Praise God!

March 28, 1850 Dear Diary, Papa never came back. I waited and waited by the back door.

When will I learn?

 March 31, 1850 Dear Diary, He’s dead.

~~~~~

Jewell Tweedt is the author of the fictional series, The Back to Omaha Adventures, and the newly published diary, Gold in My Pocket. She is a field editor for Our Iowa Magazine, teaches American History and loves reading, old movies and anything Okoboji.      

Find Jewell online: http://tweedtjewell.blogspot.com/