School Days

Dear Maggie,

Have you started school yet? How is it going? Are you still able to work on your books?

Sincerely,

A Student in Sturbridge

Dear Fellow Student,

Yes, I’ve started grad school, and I’ll head off to residency in just a couple of weeks. The summer session is fewer than half the number of credits as the fall semester, so I’ve had time to gently adjust to academic life again. So far, it’s been great. Let me say that I’ve almost always loved school, with the exception of high school, but I think we all have our complaints from that tumultuous time in our lives! Seriously though, I love learning, I love doing it in an academic setting, and I love being part of a supportive community again.

As far as writing my own books and keeping to my publishing schedule, I've become something of an expert at compartmentalizing the different areas of my life. While raising four kids, working full time at a job with many varied tasks, and making time for fun, I excelled at time management. I still live and die by my calendar, to-do lists, and notebooks because I learned early on that if I don’t manage my time, it’ll manage me. For the inside scoop on my system and tops tips on time management, check out this old blog post I wrote titled Inside a Writer’s Mind: On Working with a Calendar. For me, productive writing is a matter of scheduling.

Writing, like any other career, requires discipline and commitment. I can’t wait for the muse to hit. I have to sit down every day, turn off the distractions, and get to it. Sometimes, the quality of my work is great, other days, it’s awful, but the habit is the most important thing in order to stay productive. Having said that, there are only so many hours in the day, and school requires a healthy chunk of them, so I’m trying to be realistic about setting my goals for the second half of the year. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Thanks for the great question! If you want to ask me something, send an email to maggie@msmaggieclare.com, and I’ll answer it here on the blog.