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Writing tips for busy gardening months - How to squeeze it all in

How do you balance writing and gardening?
How do you balance writing and gardening?
Jaipi Sixbear all rights reserved

Are you a stay at home writer/gardener? Do you find it difficult to squeeze it all in? I'm right there with you. Gardening season adds a lot of chores to my writing day. It can be really tough to find time for writing during the summer months. It's also easy to get overwhelmed. It's such a heavy work load. Even if your kids are grown, between the writing and the gardening, your plate is full. What can you do to keep up with all your responsibilities and still have time to write?

Timing your primary garden chores can help.

If you're like most gardeners, once the planting is done, watering and weeding take up most of your time. Watering at the end of the day, when you're done writing really makes a difference. Weed in the morning before you start writing (and before the blazing sun comes up). By timing these two tasks, you have the rest of the day to write (mostly).

Flitting from one chore to another breaks up the monotony.

It helps you get things done without feeling so fatigued. Multitasking is fine for those who don't mind it. What if you're better at handling one task at a time? No problem. Just spread them out over the day, so you don't tire so easily. Write an article or a chapter. Tackle a garden task. Take out the trash. Then, go back to writing. This really method helps combat the boredom and restlessness that comes with having a desk job.

Bonus tip:

Alternate physical labor with mental labor to give your bod and your brain equal down time.

Writing about gardening really helps.

You love gardening, as time consuming as it is. You know you'll be taking pictures of your garden. Why not write about it? Gardening experience articles are quite popular. So are gardening blogs. Write about your gardening adventures right after they happen. They'll be fresh in your mind. Your article will flow quickly. That leaves you more time to write or garden more.

Jotting down thoughts immediately is essential.

What if you get an idea for an article in the middle of planting or fertilizing? How can you keep that thought in your head until you have time to write? Don't be afraid to stop and jot down your main ideas in outline form. It'll only take a few minutes. Then, when you get back to the computer, your article is all laid out before you. You just have to fill in the blanks.

Go for quality, not quantity.

You don't have to have the biggest garden known to man. Cutting down the size of your garden gives you more time to write. It's OK to take on one or two ambitious gardening projects. As for the rest, grow what you know. Keep your garden simple, efficient and self sustaining. You'll be stress free. That will be reflected in your writing.

Bonus tip:

It's a good idea to adopt this strategy with your writing as well. Writing 1000 quality words a day is better than writing 5000 words nobody wants to read.

This article was previously published by Jaipi Sixbear on Yahoo! Voices


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