Writing a Novel against trying to make money

I have what I refer to as a priority tree. It is something I picked up when I was a manager. Everything is given a priority number which indicates how important it is. For instance, college homework is the highest priority, especially when it is due the next day. Then comes housework (unless we are out of clean dishes and clothes), yardwork, the novel and making money. Except for next month, where the new novel will be given second priority, right after homework. With the housework, novel and making money all on the same level, it is pretty much up to me to give them equal attention. So I divide my time between them. There is no way that I can make enough money on any given day to bump that up to a higher priority, at least at the moment. College and all. I did give it a higher priority this summer (I was trying to go into this fall semester without taking out an additional loan), ended up with a raging case of writer's block. A lot of my stuff has been written at ten minutes at a time--it is not my best work. But if that is all that you have, then you have to do it like that. Remember if you wait for conditions to be perfect, you will never finish your novel.

I thought you needed to be inspired to write,in other words when the right words come , you write.These days everyone is so busy.So I wouldn't feel bad about the book. You will finish when you finish. I don't believe you can schedule the creation of art. And books are art.

What usually works for me is a timetable! The days at school I hated but I did learn some tricks. If I need to divide my day up what I do is allocate time for each job that needs doing, including breaks and lunch time which is most important!! For example 0800 breakfast 0845 computer time 0945 study time 1100 break time It has worked for me in the past and all the jobs you need to get done for the day will be done as it's all written down.

I think you shouldn't be botherd by money. There's a quote in my country "The only true artist is a hungry one". You can think about it as a joke sentence but the truth lies within it;)

If you want to write a novel, in my opinion, you need to write a novel. I think we want to do certain things because we are meant to do them. I work full time at Starbucks, I have a modeling career, a ten year old son, a boyfriend and a less than ideal home office set up. Oh, and I'm in grad school. I never think about the money when it comes to modeling or writing. It gives me more of a chance to learn my crafts and improve in those areas. I've been offered a chance to be the head writer for a new magazine, again, no money, just exposure. Still, the non-paying jobs are starting to get better and eventually I know when I'm good enough they'll be paying jobs. I do however, do my paying work and school work first. Then I make sure to spend time with my son. I record any television shows I want to watch (I am quite addicted to Heroes) and then I work on my writing and modeling. Sometimes this requires a very large pot of coffee. I also have a great many friends who are writers, models, actors and journalists. They are a wonderful motivation, as are the people here on MyLot.

for the purpose of scholar ships for abroad studies i wrote a poem and we can also sing it and then i send that to scholarshipexperts.com in bharatstudent.com to get scholar ship i aient get any response from this link hoping good about this site.and even i am much intrested to write poems and stories ans songs also to find lirics...i am fond of doing these things.

It depends how confident you are about the novel that you are writing. If you think that it is nice and you can do justice to it then I think it is nice to give time on that. It is something which will surely fetch you a lot of money. This is a site where you can spend the time you have extra. For enjoyment and not spend the valuable time when you should work cause it is said that work is the main thing. So I think you should give more time to you novel and if it is completed and gets a nice response then you can make a lot of money. Best of luck from me I hope it does good for you.

My first advice? Don't go watch the TV. My second question would be: which of these activities is the highest priority? I totally understand the need to try and make some money. Are you better at writing early in the day? Then I would do that first, because the other activites don't require as much of your brain energy. They can be mentally exhausting, but for an entirely different reason. I think for me I have to really schedule my time down to the minute practically and decide what is the highest priority. Of course, you do have to have some fun (but schedule and limit it).

The key is to set aside a space in your home with no distractions to do your writing and also set a particular time of day to do it. The do it evry day rain or shine. Once you get into the habit it becomes easy. You just plop down and it just hits you and the flow goes. I did that for a screenplay a couple years ago. I needed it finished in two weeks or the actor I was talking to would not have had time to read it. I had it done in 10 days by working two hours a day at the same time and with no distractions. Multi-tasking is great for cooking dinner and doing laundry at the same time, but yoru creative juices need more focus. Try this and see if it works for you. I don't claim to have all the answers, I can only share what works for me. Good luck.

well for me there never is enough time to do all what i want in a day because with 3 babies it's too darn hard,so what i do is i am up at 400am every morning to do what i have to do and when my babies get up at 6am half my work is done already.i just have to break up my time and get done what i can.i would continue on your novel because thats what will get you the money the most.i have wrote a few articles on a.c. and they pay very well which i am happy for,but even if you get the performance pay the views add up quick,money is money no matter how much.i wish you lots of luck with your novel hon.pattie

Well I agree it can really be hard to find time to write. I have a 21 month old daughter and she takes a lot of my time aside from cleaning, cooking, eating etc. And I do agree with you everyone needs down time too. I often go sit and watch tv to just get a break, a break from everything including my mind. But I agree with what someone said about writing it on a notebook even if you just write ideas than you know what you want to write when you can. I keep a little notebook in my purse and if I am out and think of something I write it down and when I finally get time to sit on my computer it flows out of me. The whole money thing well.... although I personally don't work outside of the home Money is evil BUT it is what we need to survive, so don't worry about that. Good luck and just find the time when you can. My time is when my daughter takes a nap if all my cleaning and other things are done.

You said that you don't think having 10 to 20 minutes a day is enough to write a novel. I do not agree. For a rough draft page it should take you 5 minutes to hand write. Try it and time yourself. A novel is usually 300 pages, so if you write 5 minutes a day even taking a few days off you should have a rough draft in a year-this should be encouragement that your novel is possible. As for the laptop do not wait until you get one. Get a three subject note book and get started. Getting started is the hardest part. You can also take a floppy disc to a public library and type from your 3 subject note book.