Weekends are strange beasts. On the one hand, they offer the illusion of large amounts of free time out of the office, where one could potentially get a decent amount of writing done. It’s like a credit card company, though. There are a lot of hidden fees that detract from the final amount of time. You get hit with those cleaning chores the apartment desperately needs. If you want a social life, this is a perfect time to get out with friends. There are errands to be run that you couldn’t squeeze into the week. Oh, and didn’t you want to take a walk while it’s sunny out? Maybe go for a little hike or hit the gym? Then there’s church on Sundays…plus wedding prep for me.
This all piles on top of the usual diversions, like television, email, web browsing, catching up with the family, and maybe playing an hour or two of a new game. And before you know it, it’s Sunday night, and you need an early bedtime in order to be awake enough that you don’t drool through the Monday-morning sales meeting.
Where in all of that does the writing fit in? Do you break it down and sprinkle it over short periods of fifteen or thirty-minute bursts? Do you carve out an hour block and strap yourself into the chair so neither you nor anyone else can drag you away? It’s odd, because I find that I write more consistently during the week, when I’ve got a firmer schedule to work around. But when it goes all loose on me and I can decide whether to sleep in or get up at 6am (gah!) to work on revisions, too often my head votes for the pillow.
Part of it is the motivation. During the week, I have to get up and go, or else bad things happen. Like losing my job. On the weekends, it might mean eating lunch as the first meal of the day. I sometimes wonder if I shouldn’t worry about writing less consistently over weekends and just relax, using the days off to recharge so I’m fresh to the page come Monday. That doesn’t mean I still won’t try to write, but I won’t feel guilty if I come up with a lower word count, or if the events of the day squeeze the writing back until just before bed.
What about you all? Do you find there are certain periods during the week that are prime writing spots for you? Maybe you don’t have any trouble at all sitting down at any point. What’s your flow?
I see that smile.
I tend to get more creative in the evening but that seems to be the busiest time: supper to prepare, hyper kids, hubby wants to chat or use the computer himself…. I write best after homeschooling is finished (1-3:00 pm)
Being a night owl myself, I enjoy doing late night writing more than forcing myself to consciousness to get work done before the day starts. Plus, there are less distractions once the world has gone to sleep, but yes, it also depends on your own energy level and whether you can stay up that late or not.