Monday, August 23, 2010

Time Management LiLa Style

A conversation with LiLa via phone because Laura has changed the password on Lisa's Skype account denying her access to her #1 time suck.

Lisa: So, I finished my chapter. Does that mean I get Skype back now?

Laura: No.

Lisa: COME ON! I'm dying over here. I feel so alone...

Laura: You know the rules. Your husband said no Skype until after the baby is born. You need to be resting up for the big day! Plus, aren't you supposed to be nesting or something?

Lisa: I hate you.

Laura:  We have our WIP, LIAR SOCIETY launch stuff, the second book to edit and, oh I don't know, a NEWBORN baby to worry about.

Lisa: I still hate you and now I have nothing to do when it's your turn to write.

Laura: Go. To. Sleep. Or go read an ARC or something. We need to write more book reviews.

Lisa: Give me Skype back or I'm quitting writing.

Laura: Don't make me change the Twitter password too...

Lisa: I. Hate. You.

Laura: *cackles*

So, um, obviously we're working through some time management issues on our end. How do you guys manage your time? Have you ever had to give up something you enjoyed that was impacting your productivity? Clearly we could use some advice...

19 comments:

Matthew MacNish said...

Hmm. This is a tough question but I do have a few solutions:

I hand off as many responsibilities as I can to my teenage daughter. Mom wants me to mop the kitchen this weekend? ... "Kylie!" ... Then I reward her by taking her to a movie or something. Oh wait, that took more time than mopping would have didn't it?

Another solution is to write while I'm at work, essentially stealing from my company. Oh wait, I only write during my lunch break. Scratch this one.

Another is to only sleep on weekends. My shift at work is 6AM - 3PM so I have to wake up an 5AM. Since I don't go to sleep until midnight I have lots of time all week. I have to make up for that on weekends.

I'm sure I have more, but I'm passing out right now. So ... tired ...

S.A. Larsenッ said...

Advice? Hmmm...I'm in with Matt. What I started doing is allotting myself so much time for 'other' writing activities. I've even used the timer on my iPod. Yes, it's sad.

Renae said...

I'm still working on the time management thing myself. I do alot myself a certain amount of time for blogging, and actual writing time. That's in addition to the 500 other things I have to do around the house, but that's would take an entire post!

Christine Fonseca said...

Goish you guys CRACK ME UP! I suck at time management - so yeah, good luck!

Patti said...

I hate to say I have no advice, since I have horrible time management skills, but as of September 1st I'm turning over a new leaf, but until then ...

Laura Pauling said...

I had to let go of watching new tv shows (b/c I'm such a sucker for a good storyline and romance) and dropping ones that really just weren't that good anymore. But I know you two aren't going to sacrifice the tv shows. ;)

Lydia Kang said...

My time management is soooo bad. I vow to be better come September!

Marsha Sigman said...

Oh yeah...I had to give up quite a bit...we eat a lot of Stouffers casseroles that you can pop in the oven. And our good china is now Chinet paper plates.
And sleep...lovely, blissful, sleep.

Dara said...

Um, I'm not one to be giving time management advice. I still suck at trying to figure it out myself and I only have a husband to worry about--no kids yet :)

I have a feeling I'll be in for a very rude awakening when babies do come...

Jemi Fraser said...

Yeah - not the best person to ask here - I'm constantly do 37 things at once. Okay it only feels that way, but still :)

Shannon Messenger said...

Yes, I have--and you're not going to like this, but what I gave up was TV. I thought it would nearly kill me, but it was amazing how much I could get done.

I didn't give it up completely--I limited myself to ONE show a day (and it had to be TiVo'd so I could skip the commercials) It was HARD and I missed my shows. But it was the only way I met my deadline.

Funny thing? Now that I'm back to watching TV, I don't do it as much. I kinda realized that a lot of shows I was watching weren't worth my time. So I never went back to watching them. Funny how that works. :)

Unknown said...

Erm, again, I'm with Jemi on doing several things at once. But I'm still busy, even though I've completely given up television, the movies, and (it was the last to go) books.

Now if only I could skip meals and sleep...

To me it's more a matter of getting down and doing the work, then realizing all the extra time there is, and using it. Though I can't say I follow that in the summer. ;D

Mary Aalgaard said...

Very funny. If I were you, I'd give the pregnant woman what she craves...just sayin'!

I gave up reading for almost a week while working through The Artist's Way. It was quite an experiment!

Krispy said...

You two seem like you have it down. I think I need someone to change my passwords...

My big time suck was and sometimes still is stupid online games. I've just decided it's better not to go near them at all.

Elana Johnson said...

Time management is the bane of my existence. And when I find myself with a few minutes, I wander aimlessly. I should open Word and write. Or something. But that seems weird...

Gail said...

I was great at time management when I was teaching (duh- when you have to fit in at least 5 subjects a day +lunch+ art/music or PE+ recess AND handle 28-30 4th graders, time management is your life! Then I retired...... in comparison, now I'm a slug. I think I had to give up part of my brain. Seriously. I still do stuff, but now it's one or two things a day instead of 20 :-)
You know.... I kinda like it.

Kelly Polark said...

I need my sister to take away my fb password for a while! :)

Stina said...

Time management advice? ROFL. :D

Don't have ADHD for starters (though it's great for creativity).

And yes, can't wait for some more book reviews . . . even if my reading pile is deep deep deep. :)

Little Ms J said...

You guys are adorable! I'm glad people are cracking the whip on you, Lisa! Grab a bag of Twizzlers and the remote and veg!

Don't call this a comeback

So it’s been a minute. Or 10. Or truthfully more like 2,102,400. At least we think that’s how many minutes there are in 3 years, but let...