I keep reading about how it is good to build up a profile, write a blog, read blogs, read books, and then of course there is the time to write.
I also have to do things like walk the dog, work, make supper, be nice to husband who is supporting me though this whole being a writer stuff. Help! How do I balance my time?
You've missed something off your list, Diane: procrastination. It eats more time than anything else - and I'm a past master at it! Writing is the one thing you want to do; but it's also the last thing you slot into your schedule, because - Because what? Vacuuming the stairs is vital to life as we know it? The entire universe will scream to a halt if you don't clean the loo? Governments will fall if you don't wash the dog's bedding?
Writing is more than what you do - it's who you are. By denying yourself the time to write as a top priority, you're saying that you are less important than all that other stuff.
Stuff the stuff!
You could schedule writing time into your day: 7-10pm, Monday to Friday, perhaps. You may be able to write on demand that way. I can't - I like 4-7pm for creative writing, though I can do editing at any time. However, if I click on my Scrivener icon in mid-morning or late evening, and open that project where I left it, I can immediately set to work, knowing what needs to be said next. So thinking I write best from 4-7pm is a fallacy: it's a way of conning myself, and excusing the waffling and wasting of time at which I am so good.
You can't delegate the writing tasks, but you can delegate some of the rest. If you haven't got an hour free to write, make notes. Include your husband in the process by talking to him abut the plot, or about any difficulties you've hit. Use dog-walking time to plan ahead, or to go over the last chapter in your head.
You don't have to read blogs - it was never considered necessary until the invention of the internet, so why fall for it? There are thousands of writers who have managed without and still written relevant and important work. Reading books is something you can do for an hour last thing at night or first thing in the morning, or on the bus; but how much better would it be if you spent that time on your own novel?
There's no point building up a profile if you never have a book to promote because you're so busy blogging.
One simple rule? Write first - ask questions later.
Lorraine
I liked Trent's idea to plot out a sample day and see where you really are spending your valuable time.
Another time management exercise is to write all the things you do in a day in a 2 by 2 square template (I wish I could draw a picture but please imagine 4 smaller squares like a window).
On the top of the square write urgent/not urgent, and the side axis write important/unimportant; so you end up with 4 categories: urgent and important, urgent and unimportant, etc.
Then add all your daily tasks to the appropriate boxes; for example, when your dog needs a wee, his walk becomes urgent; watching TV would go in the not urgent and unimportant box, and so on.
It's a no-brainer that the urgent and important things get done first; this you'd be doing already without the need for this exercise. When those tasks are complete most of us then turn to the chores in the urgent but not important box - something is making them urgent (perhaps a boss or just someone else who is very insistent) but if they are not important to you then you need to either delegate or say no to doing them at all. That frees up your time to attend to the tasks in the important but not urgent box. Unless you already have a publisher snapping at your heels, that'll be where your writing sits. (Personally, I would put blog writing in the not urgent and not important box, but that's just my view.)
Good luck finding someone to delegate to - get your dog cooking the dinner maybe?
Only kidding. I wish I knew the answer to your question. I'm "marking" this page, so I can come back and read others' comments. Good questions deserve good answers. Best of luck!