How to Get Everything Done

Yes - it's the moment you've anxiously awaited. The beaked yucca bloomed!

Isn't she pretty? Or he. We're not sure how to tell.

If you haven't been following the slow progress of the yucca bloom, you can see it here, here and here. Yeah, it's been a long, slow process. Delightful result.

I mentioned last week that I went to Memphis this weekend to talk to the River City Romance Writers. It's always a real treat to talk to other authors about the industry and process and writing time. They asked me to talk about writing novellas, then we worked into epublishing, do you need an agent and which epubs are the best these days and why I think so. We talked for two hours.

One thing that struck me was they wanted to know how I get it all done. This is always the hard question. It's an easy answer, but no one really likes to hear it. I've talked about prioritizing before, so I won't wax on about it right now. However, one thing that occurs to me is this old adage:

The more you do, the more you can do.

A couple of weeks ago, I talked about how the writing fuels us, rather than the reverse. I think it's a fallacy to say "oh, I'll write when I have more time." Or "I'll start exercising when I have more energy." The thing is, time and energy don't just appear on their own. It's kind of a "if you build it, they will come" proposition. If you insist on having the time to write, the time will be there. If you exercise, you'll feel better and more energized. Just talk to anyone who's retired or has been laid off from their jobs - they'll tell you they don't know where the time goes. I've been this soldier many, many times. When I have plenty of time to do something, I fritter 90% of it away. If I have only a short space of time? Boy, do I pile on the effort and get it done.

When I was in college, the president of the sorority was awarded most improved GPA. The former president leaned over and whispered in my ear, "that proves it right there: the more you do, the more you can do."

The best thing about getting all those things done?

The rush of energy, baby!

Now git 'er done.