Special Guest Gina Badalaty: Five Minute Editing
Posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009by Jeannie Ruesch
Mamas, give a warm welcome to our guest blogger today, fellow mama and writer Gina Badalaty:
GINA:
After years of procrastination, last fall I decided to jump in to write a novel. A few years back, I wrote a manuscript while participating in NANOWRIMO. For the past 10 or 12 months, I’ve been world-building, revising and developing sub-plots. I’m surprised by how long it actually takes to produce a workable manuscript.
I had hoped to be finished by now, but I’m not done with my current revision and the last few weeks have been insane. My oldest daughter just entered first grade and “homework” is now added to my list of chores. Her schedule includes an early bus, daily readings, and assignments due twice a week. She is learning-disabled which means that homework is a pretty time consuming task, but one I feel is important.
On top of this, life already was busy. My four year old has been throwing tantrums and refuses to dress for preschool. Over the summer, I took on extra contract work to help with bills. Since I work from home, I’m usually the one who makes dinner, does the laundry and keeps track of all the little things.
That leaves little time for both writing and sleep, but I’m lucky to have an accountability partner for writing. She sent me goals as soon as school started. Yikes, I thought, how on earth am I going to keep up? By mid-September, I had not looked at my manuscripts in weeks, but when could I find time for writing goals?
So, I did something off the wall: I committed to 5 minutes of editing per day.
Let me clarify: that is five minutes of revising after I’ve opened the document, found my notes, and looked up what I need to keep moving on. In keeping this commitment I’ve discovered some benefits:
1. My editing time almost always goes past 5 minutes. If I choose to work at an open-ended point in time, like the beginning of my lunch hour or before bed, it easily leads to 10 or 20 minutes of good writing. The pages start to fly by.
2. There’s no excuse for not finding time. Five minutes is too short a time period to avoid without guilt and I can pretty much write whenever I think of it.
3. Five minutes a day keeps me engaged with the story daily. Setting a longer time goal or, worse yet, page goals (i.e., edit 3 pages a day) encourages procrastination. By keeping up every day, I never lose the thread of my plot.
4. If I’ve only got 5 minutes, I have to make merciless decisions. There’s no time for long internal debates about keeping it in or cutting it out. If I’m unsure, it goes.
At some point, I will have to find a long block of time to sit with my novel and digest it as a whole. Five minute editing is only a temporary fix until some of my projects end and the holidays arrive, but in the mean time, I don’t have to feel guilty. I’m working on my novel every day, and every day that work is moving forward. Good for me!
Gina Badalaty
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Great post Gina and welcome!
What a great idea! I’m finding it very difficult to open my WIPS…. I think about it everyday, but I just don’t have time. I’ll try the five minutes and see how that works!
Eliza, I really think that moms with a newborn have an absolute excuse. LOL
LOL! Yes a definite excuse. How long can I use it?
Hmm…until he’s in school? *grin* Like college? LOL
Even better…FOREVER! Because you’ll have grandkids next as your excuse, lol
Yes, have a newborn is definitely an ok time to take a break! Thing is, if you can find 5 minutes for yourself, you’ll be amazed at how much better it goes being home with a little little one.
Oh yes! 5 minutes can be Heaven! I leave the kiddies with my hubby sometimes to run errands, and even that is relaxing!
You know, it’s that constant Spidey Sense that tingles whenever you know that YOU are in charge… even if they are playing in the front room while you are in the kitchen, it’s like our senses are on overdrive.
And the minute the hubby comes and takes them, all those senses drop from exhaustion. Five minutes MATTERS.
Gina,
Love having you here…This is great.
5 minutes. Sure, we can all do that. We have homework in KINDERGARTEN! what’s that all about? and my little one wants to do whatever her sister does! crazy. Plus, I find editing time on hard copy pages while kids are in gymnastics, or dance.
Good luck with your project! I’m doing NaNoWriMo again this year - to either finish my current WIP or start my next one.
Nice to see you, and great blog post!
~Ashley
Thank you Ashley! Amelia didn’t have homework in Kindergarten because she was in the special ed room. I’m leaning towards full inclusion for both kids, so that may not be the case for Zoe.
Homework in KINDERGARTEN? That’s just nuts. What kind of homework?
And oops, my timer is up!!! LOL
My daughter had HW in kindergarten too, Mon-Thurs, and let me tell you something, I didn’t know some of the answers! It was crazy! She had a locker too. To me it seemed more like what I was doing in 2nd and 3rd grade. Does she go all day? Ashleigh would leave at 8am and get home at 4pm. Then pass out on the sofa first thing.
Gina, this is a terrific idea. And most people (I’m giving Eliza a pass LOL) can easily find five minutes. In fact, I just found this fabulous little software for free called Desktop Timer. You set a timer on your desktop for any amount of time you want (mine is currently set for 15 minutes, because that’s how long I’m giving myself to play around on the net this morning. I think it would be a great tool to use with this.
http://www.timeleft.info/desktop-timer.html
But I’m going to set my five minute timer later on today and see what happens! And I like the thought that the five minutes begin AFTER you are set up, on the page you need to work on.
Thanks for being here!
Thank Jeannie! I quickly found that you get nothing done if you time from when you sit down. On a bad day, just opening and locating your place can take 5 minutes.
What a great link, I was just looking for some timer software for some projects I’m on.
It’s funny — setting a timer really makes you accountable for your time. But I love the 5 minute editing idea. It’s sort of like the FlyLady talks about — 15 minutes a day to declutter your house. Almost anyone can find 15 minutes a day…
Thanks for the pass Jeannie!!! And the link… I might even use this for chores! I love to say, okay, I’ll clean the kitchen for 15 minutes, then I’ll have some fun
Hi Gina!
Thanks for hanging out at MW today! What a kickin’ concept! I can handle 5mins. LOL I get too distracted working on blogs or surfing links and quickly lose track of time. *argh!* So easy to do and you don’t even realize time has flown by!
That’s why I’m lovin’ Jeannie’s link. I think I’ll have a winning equation using the timer and your 5mins.
Ashley! Are you serious! My girl will be in Kindergarten next year. Sheesh! What’s a mom to do?! Like we need more stuff on our To-Do lists! I’ll be asking for tips next year. LOL
Hi Sara, cool! Glad you like it. It’s amazing the ideas we create when we are desperate to grab a few minutes for our passion, lol!
Gina, it’s amazing what can be accomplished in 5 minutes. I like to work in 15 minute chunks if possible…that’s how long the baby’s music runs for.
Emma you get a pass too!
And by the way.. JEALOUS!!! My baby hates all of her music and contraptions, lol. She just wants to sit with me all day
She’s curled up next to me right now.
It took a while for him to get interested in his contraptions…still not fully interested in his play mat. His favorite past time is sitting in my or my hubby’s lap while we sing songs to him.
Thanks for the pass. But I don’t have two other kids as well. I don’t know how you do it, Eliza.
Wow, what a great idea Gina… I could probably use that 5 minute idea on other things, too
Great post, Gina! I love the five minute concept. And I’m glad you did NaNo! I’m a huge NaNo proponent. This year will be my third.
I love the idea of finding 5 minutes for my passion. Although I am not to the editing process yet, I can still apply it to my WIP. And it seems like everyone else does too!
Give me 5 minutes and I can turn it into 30 easy. How…show my family that I am hard at work and they leave me alone until I am ready to surface.
I just need those 5 minutes to get into the zone. Then I am hooked and house work is forgotten!
I loved the link to the timer…fabulous! Thanks for sharing it and your thoughts Jeannie.
Have a fabulous day and Happy 5
~Talina
Hi Gina~
I love these simple strategies! And ones that seems do-able–just enough to a challenge to keep you interested, but not so much that, on a bad day, you give up before you even start.
On my Muse-free days (i.e. those days where I’m the only one who showed up to work, and every word on the page is hard won) I set my oven timer for 30 minutes. I write for 30 minutes. Then I set it for another 30, and allow myself a 30 min break.
After that, I set the time for 32 minutes (writing) and 28 minutes (break). Usually, after a round or 2 of this, I’m writing past the timer, and I just turn it off an keep going.
Of course, that requires my son be at a playdate or school, or else I’m with you: 5 minutes ‘on’ can be an accomplishment!
Go, moms who are so devoted to their families AND their writing that they figure out a way to do both.
Best on finishing up that NaNo novel, whenever you are able!
Thanks, Kris, that is a great tip! It’s all in how to outsmart the voice in our head that says we can’t - either because we’re too busy, we procrastinate or whatever else. Very wise technique indeed.
You would probably love the AutoCrit Editing Wizard. It is ideal for working in small chunks of time.
I use that often - I love it!
Thanks Jay, I’ll check it out!
I’m a day late as always but wow!, I think I can probably squeeze in 5 min a day writing…hehe. My problem is not the timer…it’s the shiny objects (like Facebook & MySpace) that lure me away.
I PROMISE to start with five minutes a day and try to work up from there.
Thanks for the great article!
Valerie, I totally relate! Especially if I’m in bed with the laptop, and I just want to hang out, lol…