There are three necessary elements you must budget in order to complete any writing project – time, talent and treasure. I admit my old life without a budget looked a lot like Porky the pig playing slip and slide on greased up hundred dollar bills from the federal reserve. Yep. Too much time at recess when I should have been in the classroom, a complete unawareness of my purpose and no desire to live within my means. Budget? What budget? The situation became magnified when I decided to write my first novel. The wrong tools were in my writer's kit. All I could find were excuses and broken promises. If I wanted to keep my sanity I needed to come up with a new plan and learn to budget my resources.
- Time. We all have the same amount of it. Champions learn clock management. This is a disciplined process. If you don't have enough time, keep a log of everything you do on an hour by hour basis for one week. You may be surprised to discover how much time is wasted on useless activities. One easy solution is to pretend your work is your veggies and your leisure time is your dessert. When you wake up, eat all your spinach before you treat yourself to banana cream pie. No rewards until all your chores are done.
- Talent. Everyone has talent. I didn't find my knack for writing until I wrote my first love letter to my wife. Now I know how Michelangelo felt the first time he picked up a chisel and looked at a slab of rock. Search your tool box for unused tools at the bottom and grasp each one until you find the one that makes your heart skip a beat. That's your talent. Use it like a hammer and pound nails until you can do it with your eyes closed.
- Treasure. It's easy to offer someone a fish so he or she can have food for the day. It's better to invest your treasure in your community by teaching others how to fish so they can have food for life. The more you give, the easier it will be for you to make your own budget work. In my life, the hour a day I budget for others on this blog helps me to refine my writing talent. Giving is rewarding. It's like getting extra credit on a test.