Time Management or Life Management?

In the current issue of The Scriptorium I reprinted an old article of mine on "Finding Time to Write." One of our recent monthly polls suggested that readers would be interested in more articles on time management and organization, so I thought this would be a good start.

However, the last week has me wondering if it's really time management that's the issue. I have to a large extent, figured out how to manage my time to include writing. I've made the lifestyle changes (I watch only about 1 hour of tv per week), I've organized my household chores, I've worked out when and how I can be the most productive. And yet this week, when I'm trying to meet a deadline (self-imposed, but still a deadline), I've hardly been able to write at all.

What it comes down to is that it's a lot easier to micro-manage time than it is to macro-manage life. My husband chose this week to take some vacation time, we have household renovations ongoing, so zap!--there go my writing plans. Even though he didn't plan to spend the whole week working on the house (and we didn't), my nicely-constructed time-management plans have pretty much been out the window. Throw in a few extra things that I had to do with the kids and other family members, and the week's a washout.

I guess it just goes to show that even the best plans only work if you can keep them isolated from The Rest Of Your Life. And that's just not possible--unless there's nothing in the rest of your life. Which of course would leave one alone and melancholy and probably with nothing to write about. Oh, well, maybe I can get it done by next Wednesday and have a whole week to plan for NaNoWriMo.