I couldn't run a tight schedule, and if you're any good at teaching, you get sucked dry because you like your students and you're trying to help them, but you don't have any time left to write yourself.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Writing is a funny thing. It's not like you're working on a schedule. It comes in fits and starts.
As a wife, daughter, friend, and the founder and CEO of LearnVest, my schedule is anything but simple. But I learned early on how meticulously manage my time.
I don't make my own schedule - it's constructed around my sons' school schedules.
When I was bringing up a child, I taught myself to write in very short, concentrated bursts. If I had a weekend, or a week, I'd do unbelievable amounts of work.
I teach one semester a year, and this year I'm just teaching one course during that semester, a writing workshop for older students in their late 20s and early 30s, people in our graduate program who are already working on a manuscript and trying to bring it to completion.
I teach classes 28 weeks of the year, but the rest of the time I do research and write books. While I'm writing a book, which I probably do two out of every three years, it's like having a second job. I squeeze in the hours when I can.
I hate writing. I almost never write. I write against deadlines. And when I'm teaching, I'm focused on that.
I don't take off time from teaching to write. I take time off from writing to teach.
I am always urging my students to honor their writing practice, to set up a schedule.
Writing is self employment, so you can make your own schedule.