Highly Useful Post on Time Management …

… by Maggie Stiefvater (via Tansy Rayner Roberts). I like this post because it’s sensible and it puts responsibility for the writing, or lack thereof, squarely where it belongs – with the writer. Even if you don’t have kids, you can still find ways to waste time and make excuses for not writing (“Mmmmm, what’s that? Oh, yes, I will get to that chapter in a mo, but the bathroom desperately needs to be decorated with a mosaic referencing those of the baths of Herculaneun. Oh, yes, it must be done.”)

So back when I asked people what they’d like to hear me post about, I got a ton of a requests for a post about time management. The thing is, I feel a little weird about posting about it, because I don’t feel like an expert. An expert is someone who knows how to do something well, who makes it look effortless, and me. . . well, I could’ve had this post finished twenty minutes ago, but I got distracted watching Sponge Bob Square Pants while drinking my breakfast tea.
The rest lives here http://m-stiefvater.livejournal.com/159357.html

So basically, this: I don’t feel qualified as an expert. Time management is still something that I constantly have to work at — it’s not like washing dishes, which I’m perfectly certain I can accomplish. It’s more like writing, where each day is a new project I’m not sure I can pull off.

I think I get a lot done. But I don’t think it’s easy for me. I think that’s the best way to put it. I can joke about it being about caffeine and cookie dough or an inability to sit still, but what it comes down to is: it’s hard. I have to work at it. Anyone who thinks otherwise will be let down.

With that said, here are my basic principles of time management.