Writing on a School-Centered Time Schedule
We are writers. One thing we love to do: Write. One thing we never do: Write. Unfortunately, lots of us have...SCHOOL. And whether it be high school or college, one thing we have to attend to is a school-centered schedule.
(This part of the reason there was no update last week...hehe). I struggle with this myself, so today I'll be giving you, as well as myself, some tips and advice for writing on a school-centered schedule.
8 Tips:
1. Wake up early.We only have so many daylight hours and so many things to do. When we wake up earlier, we get a better start on our day. And what if you're not a morning person? Well, if it just so happens to take you an hour or two to be truly awake, then get up at six, and then after your few hours of "wake-up time", it will still be mid-morning. Get up early and get going.
2. Go to bed at a decent time. Last year, I was crushing it. I got my homework in on time, I had perfect attendance. However, I was going to bed at either midnight or 1 am each night, and I know this is not innormal for many high-schoolers. Try to aim for 10:30 every night. The proper amount of sleep improves cognitive function, focus and productivity which is wholly beneficial for both school and writing.
3. Homework... Although we would love to spend our days (generally) free of studies or chores and would much rather spend it walking or reading or writing, homework is an unfortunate 'necessity' of life. (I think I could debate this, but that's for another time!) Here's a challenge: try to get your homework done either as soon as your teacher assigns it or as quickly afterward as you can. This will make your life SO much easier, and it has made mine significantly so. You'll find this will free up hours of writing time.
4. Know your deadlines. When you are sure of your deadlines, you should be able to allow yourself a good amount of time to complete your work...right? Weeeelll...procrastination is, in fact, a thing. But remember guys: Preparation beats procrastination! Knowing your deadlines is a good means of preparation. Be sure of all of them.
5. Set goals. For both your schoolwork and your writing. If you've got a paper to work on, set yourself a goal: Okay, I'm going to finish the introduction and first paragraph in half an hour. (I discuss the paper-writing process in more detail in : Essaying: the Process). Or when you're writing: This afternoon, I am going to write 800-1,000 words. It helps you get the most out of your limited time. It helps you to find those empty niches (as few and far between as they may be) of space to get done what needs to be done.
6. Breathing space. When we have assignments pouring in on us from all classes, and writing projects filling our brain at a million miles an hour, it's easy to become suffocated. It's easy to for our mind to become clogged and that takes a toll on our attitude and our physical health. Make sure you allow yourself breathing space. Do some stretches, go for a walk or just sit outside a minute and breathe. This will have a positive effect on your productivity, creativity and focus.
7. Make health a priority. (Actually, this probably should have been number three...) Gosh, I could go on on this point forever. My Freshman year....ugh, that was not a good year. I let my health go for other reasons. Let my emphasize this: NOTHING IS WORTH FORFEITING YOUR HEALTH. NOTHING. Yes, not even schoolwork (as hard as that may be to believe). Try this: when you need to spend the whole day at your desk or on your bed working on a paper, fill a 20 oz. watterbottle of cold water and a slice of lemon. This is detoxing and it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to be hydrated, especially as the school year comes to a close and work comes crashing in from all directions.
8. Time Management. This is pretty crucial. Without time management, the hours of the day slip by and by evening, we've done only a small amount of homework and next to no writing. (This is reviewed in 10 Unhealthy Writing Habits). If you want to preserve your writing through the school year, you will want to have good time management.
Well, that's all I've got for today, folks!
Keep an eye out because I will be updating it later this week.
Let's Chat!
1. How do you write on a school-centered schedule?
2. Do you find your writing agenda falling behind during the school year?
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| Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash |
8 Tips:
1. Wake up early.We only have so many daylight hours and so many things to do. When we wake up earlier, we get a better start on our day. And what if you're not a morning person? Well, if it just so happens to take you an hour or two to be truly awake, then get up at six, and then after your few hours of "wake-up time", it will still be mid-morning. Get up early and get going.
2. Go to bed at a decent time. Last year, I was crushing it. I got my homework in on time, I had perfect attendance. However, I was going to bed at either midnight or 1 am each night, and I know this is not innormal for many high-schoolers. Try to aim for 10:30 every night. The proper amount of sleep improves cognitive function, focus and productivity which is wholly beneficial for both school and writing.
3. Homework... Although we would love to spend our days (generally) free of studies or chores and would much rather spend it walking or reading or writing, homework is an unfortunate 'necessity' of life. (I think I could debate this, but that's for another time!) Here's a challenge: try to get your homework done either as soon as your teacher assigns it or as quickly afterward as you can. This will make your life SO much easier, and it has made mine significantly so. You'll find this will free up hours of writing time.
4. Know your deadlines. When you are sure of your deadlines, you should be able to allow yourself a good amount of time to complete your work...right? Weeeelll...procrastination is, in fact, a thing. But remember guys: Preparation beats procrastination! Knowing your deadlines is a good means of preparation. Be sure of all of them.
5. Set goals. For both your schoolwork and your writing. If you've got a paper to work on, set yourself a goal: Okay, I'm going to finish the introduction and first paragraph in half an hour. (I discuss the paper-writing process in more detail in : Essaying: the Process). Or when you're writing: This afternoon, I am going to write 800-1,000 words. It helps you get the most out of your limited time. It helps you to find those empty niches (as few and far between as they may be) of space to get done what needs to be done.
6. Breathing space. When we have assignments pouring in on us from all classes, and writing projects filling our brain at a million miles an hour, it's easy to become suffocated. It's easy to for our mind to become clogged and that takes a toll on our attitude and our physical health. Make sure you allow yourself breathing space. Do some stretches, go for a walk or just sit outside a minute and breathe. This will have a positive effect on your productivity, creativity and focus.
7. Make health a priority. (Actually, this probably should have been number three...) Gosh, I could go on on this point forever. My Freshman year....ugh, that was not a good year. I let my health go for other reasons. Let my emphasize this: NOTHING IS WORTH FORFEITING YOUR HEALTH. NOTHING. Yes, not even schoolwork (as hard as that may be to believe). Try this: when you need to spend the whole day at your desk or on your bed working on a paper, fill a 20 oz. watterbottle of cold water and a slice of lemon. This is detoxing and it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to be hydrated, especially as the school year comes to a close and work comes crashing in from all directions.
8. Time Management. This is pretty crucial. Without time management, the hours of the day slip by and by evening, we've done only a small amount of homework and next to no writing. (This is reviewed in 10 Unhealthy Writing Habits). If you want to preserve your writing through the school year, you will want to have good time management.
Well, that's all I've got for today, folks!
Keep an eye out because I will be updating it later this week.
Let's Chat!
1. How do you write on a school-centered schedule?
2. Do you find your writing agenda falling behind during the school year?
Yesssssss this was great!!!!!!! I was about to say myself, time! management! I use google calendars for this, and it's INCREDIBLE. For the last couple weeks of school I would plan out my entire week and give myself a certain amount of time to finish each homework assignment (granted it didn't always work....what can I say I'm still a procrastinator). It's also so important that, if you are budgeting time hour by hour, to give yourself free time! You always need to take a break, whether it's to refill a water bottle, get a snack or stand up (because when school rolls around 70% of my time is spent at a desk or sitting on my bed doing homework). Also getting up early is really nice sometimes, granted I'll turn off my alarm clock and fall right back asleep, then curse myself for doing it (hahaha...), but it still helps.
ReplyDeleteOh cool! Google Calendars? That's a good idea!( I should try that sometime..) Yes, I agree! I don't follow all this criteria myself....(hehe) BUT I'M TRYING. lol Thank you!!
ReplyDeleteWriting on a school-schedule basis has been very hard for me. Seriously, schoolwork takes up all of my weekdays, so I tried my best to finish school before the weekends and wrote on the weekends(I still was kind of lazy and did not write at all some weeks). My writing agenda falls very behind when I decide to procrastinate on school and cause myself to have to scramble to get it all done. YouTube is actually a great enemy of mine because I used to(and still do sometimes) just wasted hours watching videos. Also, the endless scroll on Pinterest used to take a lot of my time too.
ReplyDeleteYes, I very often have the same problem. It's weird how much time in our lives that we spend on schoolwork .
ReplyDeleteYES, all of this was so true!
ReplyDeleteI write on a school centered schedule by carving out a portion of my day specifically for writing. It doesn't always work(especially when finals are a factor) but I wrote an entire novel in seven months because of this. I made myself finish all homework and free time activities by 9 and then I wrote until 10. It worked great because I write in my bed anyway so I roll into bed and pull out my laptop and write for an hour(yes I know being on an electronic device isn't good for you before bed, but I've never had a problem) and then I fall asleep.
During the school year I find it hard to write especially long novels, but in a way(as long as I don't have a test coming up) I think it helps me, because I put in it the homework section of my schedule so I'm able to get it done. Summer though is a different story...
Whoa! A novel in seven months?? Girl, that's goals!! Yeah, I definitely agree that sheduling is a big help to staying on track. :)
ReplyDelete