1. Budget, budget, budget!

Losing a big chunk of income each month takes some serious adjustment. It might be tough at first to not spend money the way you have become accustomed to. Remember, in order to chase your dreams, you will have to make some sacrifices. It will be nearly impossible to cut down as much as you need to without declaring beforehand what you are trying to do. By spending the time to work out a budget for yourself and your family, you are letting yourself know exactly where money goes so you can figure out how to manage it better.

I suggest writing your budget down. Make sure you make a note of all your monthly expenses – rent, utility bills, car payments, gas expenses, groceries, etc. Also make sure to budget some money in for fun and entertainment. If you leave this completely off, you will not be able to stay within budget. That’s just how it is: people have to have fun occasionally, and while it doesn’t have to be expensive, if you don’t allow yourself any fun money, you will end up splurging and going over budget. I don’t allow much for fun spending (and the paltry amount I allow includes any movies/events we go to as well as eating out), but just having that amount set aside helps me stay within it. We only do things that fit within that budget.

It will take a couple months to tweak your budget to exactly where it works for you. I strongly suggest you find ways to shave some money off your budget (planning a week or two’s worth of dinners at one time will help your grocery bill – promise) so you can put the excess into savings. Having a healthy savings account will really, really help cut the anxiety of not having your monthly income any more.

2. Schedule, schedule, schedule!

As a stay-at-home-writer, you are in charge of your own scheduling. There is no boss breathing over your shoulder to make sure you accomplish all the tasks you need to. Because you have to answer only to yourself, it is easy to get distracted and waste your time playing on the internet, doing projects around the house that are completely unnecessary, and pretty much anything else that will help you procrastinate writing. It is strange how that works: no matter how badly you want to write, if you let your guard down, you will procrastinate said writing. Does it make sense? No, but it absolutely happens.

The best way around this problem is to schedule your days out, so you have a guide to follow. Every night before I go to bed, I pull out a card (actually, a concert ticket – I have a huge surplus from an over-order on an event a couple years ago that I am trying to get through), and a pen. I jot down every non-writing thing I need to accomplish the next day, leaving nothing out: seriously, I schedule time for meals (and meal prep), showering, blog reading, and cleaning. Once I know what I need to accomplish, I set to work doling out time to all my tasks. I try to guess how long I will need for each thing, and make sure I am cutting time close, so I don’t have a lot of dead-time. I will schedule my entire day down to the minute (well, okay, down to 15-minute increments). Maybe it sounds insane to do so, but it helps me stay on track and keeps me from straying off schedule and wasting all kinds of time.

Put all your non-writing tasks together, so you can complete them and then move onto writing without having to have a bunch of writing interruptions throughout the day. I try to schedule everything I have to do first thing in the morning, so once I finish, I am completely free to write for the rest of the day (well, at least until I have to make dinner). Then, when writing time comes around, I turn off the internet access on my computer (yeah, I HIGHLY advise doing this, too), and get to work.

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Granted, neither of these tips will work if you don’t actually stick with what you plan. Sometimes stuff happens that throws off your budget and/or your schedule, and you have to be ready to accommodate surprises, but for the most part, stick with what you have written down. It will help you save money (and stress) and will keep you on track to get your novel finished.

I know some people automatically bristle when they hear the words budget or schedule. I mean, something that regimented goes against everything a creative soul wants to do. I used to be the same way – I couldn’t possibly imagine chaining myself down so much. But then one day, I did it. It wasn’t easy at first, but now I can’t imagine life without my budget and schedules. Now I actually have FUN planning them out.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?

Write.

Yep, that’s it. One word can sum up the very best advice I have ever received about writing.

But, of course, I am not a woman of so few words, so I will expand the best bit of advice I’ve ever been given with the best bit of advice I have to give (aside from passing on the whole *write* bit, of course). Are you ready for me to be all profound-like? Here goes:

Have fun.

It is easy to stress out about writing: will people like this? Is it good enough? Is this going to be the book that will finally land me an agent? A book deal?

But you know what? Stressing is no fun. And one of the biggest joys of being an unagented, unpublished author is the ultimate freedom it gives. When else can we write anything and everything without responsibility? When else can be experiment so freely without having an audience to keep in mind?

So have fun with your writing now, before you have to worry about deadlines and brands and images. Try a little bit of everything that interests you without concern of how it turns out. Because at this point, who are you trying to impress?

Just have fun!

What are your favorite reading and writing links?

I read a lot of blogs. Seriously, my Google Reader is working overtime. Sometimes I think I read too many blogs, but I just can’t bring myself to pull any of them off the reader (I will admit to skimming some of them and only reading the ones that really jump out at me).

Remember last week when we talked about procrastination? Well, I have  learned that reading blogs is a super procrastinatory tool, which is why I am only sharing ONE link with y’all today. Because, come on, I don’t want to be partially responsible for your superb ability to not get anything done.

I thought about not putting any links in this post and just directing you to my sidebar and the YA Highway blog, but I do have one site that just begs to be shared.

YA/MG Author Barry Lyga has a wonderful series of writing advice up on his blog. If you are a writer (or are even contemplating writing a book), these are must reads. His advice is honest and funny and to the point. He covers topics in great detail that many others simply gloss over. I absolutely love reading Barry’s blogs and have learned so much about my own writing by listening to what he has to say. I admit that I have not read any of Barry’s books, but after stumbling across and reading his blog, they have been added to the top of my to-be-read list.

So, I thought I would write one. Yeah, I’m helpful like that. It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it. I give you:

Write a Novel in 15 Easy Steps

1. Get out your trusty computer. Sure, you can use pen/pencil and paper if you want. Or you can etch it into stone, if you would rather. For the sake of efficiency here, I am going to say go with a computer.

2. Turn off the interwebs. Seriously. The #1 surefire way to not get a darn word written is to be connected to the internet. On the World Wide Web, distractions abound. Mere mortals are unable to ignore the siren calls of websites. Luckily cutting off access to the internet mutes these calls and allows one to focus.

3. Open your preferred word processor. If you want to be compatible with most of the publishing industry, go with Microsoft Word. If you value your sanity, skip Word and instead find something that saves in Word format, but is infinitely better than Word. I use AbiWord, but there are a lot of good alternatives.

4. Stare at the blinking cursor.

5. Manically write 900 words.

6. Delete 894 words.

7. Use the restroom.

8. Stare at the blinking cursor.

9. Get up and get another glass of sweet tea.

10. Return to the computer and stare at the blinking cursor.

11. Write 504 more words; decide it would be better from another point of view.

12. Erase 510 words.

13. Stare at the blinking cursor.

14. Write one word.

15. And then another.

Lather, rinse, repeat (a lot) and there you have it – a novel!

And now the real fun begins.