When I first retired from teaching, I stopped wearing my watch and setting my alarm clock. I wanted to be free of schedules and time restrictions. That was great – for awhile. But it seems that we’re all creatures of habit and routine, and I found myself setting up some new activities to replace the time spent teaching. On Mondays I have one of the grandkids for the whole day, on Wednesdays I go to a Bible study, on Fridays I go out to breakfast and do errands with my husband. I also wanted to find time for writing and exercising, but I found if I don’t schedule them, they often don’t get done.

This weekend at a SCBWI writing conference in Buffalo I got re-inspired to set up a new writing schedule. One of the authors mentioned that she gets up at 4:30 am to write. She also has a child and a day job. Now, there’s no way I’m getting up at 4:30 or even 5:30, but I probably could manage setting my alarm for 7:00. So that’s my new plan. I’m going to get up at 7:00 and write for a least an hour before beginning my day. As for exercise? Maybe I’ll schedule that next week.