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I've been struggling with things similar to Lisa S. (worthywoman) and Robin (atlantissong). I was student teaching last year, but found some time for short stories in May for the short story challenge. While I was still student teaching, and all of my "summer" I was working full time and applying for full time teaching jobs during my free time. I figured that once I had a job, I would have the rest of the summer to get prepared for the job and get back to writing.

Then I got a job, and it started the next week. I've been completely overwhelmed since then, but I still have the urge to write. I'm lucky in that I was given an extra class: Creative Writing, so I've done a few things with my students, but it's not much, and it's not what I need to do next on my path.

Because honestly? What I really need to do is revision.

I haven't even had time to look for my printed out manuscript or post chapters up on the critique circle I belong to. I come home so exhausted that all I have time and energy for is whatever's still required for the next day of teaching and reading for pleasure.

It's frustrating, because I desperately want to write.

When I was asked to take on two additional classes (one of them being the creative writing class), I asked if I could get out of having an after school club/meeting/etc. I was told that was not possible, but that I could join a committee that only met once a month.

Instead, I decided to create a NaNoWriMo Young Writers' club. NaNoWriMo is probably the last thing I should do this year: it will give me another novel to finish and revise, it will take time away from my teaching obligations and make me even more tired/exhausted, and I really need to regain focus on my past novels for revision.

I know it was the right decision though. Knowing my energy levels right now, I realized that if I didn't do NaNo as a club, I wouldn't be doing any other writing either. That meant that, although it would be better to be revising instead of writing a new novel, it is better to be writing ANYTHING than not writing at all.

I may not be where I want to be, but at least I have something. Oh, and I doubt I'll even come close to "winning". But as we've said year after year, any words are better than none.

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That's a good attitude.

A lot of us can't write as much as we want due to our obligations. But you're writing. However you've accomplished that is worth it.

Just keep going - there's always improvment on the horizon.

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Thank you!

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I have a real-life friend who is a teacher. He does a youth NaNo every year as one of his class assignments, like homework but I think it's a voluntary replacement or extra credit. Anyway, it's a great thing to do.

A thought you might toss around in your head though...

While you're losing all this time to validated their counts, maybe you could edit instead of participating. Basically, do your participation as a focus and cheer team for the students while your word count efforts go to revision?

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Maybe.

I'm not good at revision. It takes a lot more mental energy than writing first draft material. I'm not sure I have the mental energy, even if I have the time, for revision.

But maybe that's an excuse.

I'm not sure. It's something to consider, anyway.

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I hear you on that. But I'm slowly getting better at it by pushing myself to progress, even if it's a tiny bit at a time.

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Where the first draft of a story can easily get lost if you set it aside for too long, revision has this going for it; you can start taking notes, bit by bit, then go back and implement them, and even if a lot of time passes, you shouldn't lose the thread of the story.

So when you can find the time, make a copy of the MS you can take with you and work on in spare moments, then jot notes on the pages - or sticky notes, but if you do that, note the page, etc. on the sticky note itself so if it falls off... The pace will probably be glacial at first, but as you gain practice it should pick up a bit, and you're at least inching toward your goal. (You might still be working on it next summer, but you'll at least have a bit of a head start.)

Also, if you can do so, I suggest doing anything you can to improve your working memory. That's one thing I have and to spare, and it lets me get away with working in fits and starts much more easily than most people can.

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That's a good idea. I still need to find the story, though (it's already printed out).

That said, I have a *terrible* working memory. I have a much better long-term memory. I've joked for years that even though I'm young, I'm already senile . And generally speaking, I'm not as good as working in fits and starts (or multitasking) as much people; on the plus side, I have a much longer attention span than most people and can focus longer on one task.

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