Do any of you ever feel like everything you do is at the expense of something else? I.E:
- If I'm writing, I'm probably slacking off at work, and will have to work twice as hard the next day
- If I'm writing, I'm not critiquing
- If I'm critiquing, I'm not writing
- If I'm cleaning my house, I'm not writing, and then I'm a miserable wretch
- If I'm not cleaning and I'm writing instead, my house starts growing tumbleweeds of dust on the hardwood floors
- If I'm doing any of the above, my Christmas shopping isn't getting done
- If I'm Christmas shopping, none of the above gets done
It's a vicious, neverending cycle. Not to mention that with the holidays upon us, I flail and convulse every time I remember that my computer room will soon be looking like this again:
So, I hope you all won't miss me too much (and my lame quoting of Lifehouse lyrics) if my blogging gets a little spotty, because I've decided that my WiP and the projects I'm critiquing have to take precedence while I'm time-crunched. I'll still be popping in to leave love on your posts whenever possible.
But maybe you can tell me - how do you manage when you're juggling a million balls in the air? Does your writing suffer? (Read: HELP!)
Yes. I think many of us can relate. It seems as if the world is moving much faster. Scheduling can help. But make sure to add in some free time for yourself. That is very important. :D
ReplyDeleteI can definitely relate to this feeling! (And believe me, the giant stack of uncorrected student work in the corner of the room is weighing heavily on my mind as I blog this morning.)
ReplyDeleteYet, I actually seem to get more done when I'm crunched for time. A certain efficiency takes over.
I actually flounder more when I don't have enough to do. That's when I really waste time.
Yup, we all have times were duty crashes in on the WiP. In my case, it's sleep that suffers.
ReplyDeleteI totally hear you on the house cleaning dilemma. My husband just rolls his eyes.
ReplyDeleteI'm busy with all those things, but I'm about to start querying, so hopefully they'll keep me from the inbox. I might have to spend a lot of time cleaning the house and shopping. Only those two things will truly keep me from checking the inbox.
I also struggle when I'm not writing.
I hear you! I can see the dog hair piling up as I write this. Whatever you do, remember to breathe and to enjoy the holidays. Otherwise, what's the pint?
ReplyDeleteWe definitely need more hours in a day, because I feel that way almost all the time! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteWell. You KNOW how I feel about this. And you KNOW how I almost quit writing three weeks ago because of this very reason.
ReplyDeleteWhen David and I were expecting our first kid, someone told us to make a list of all the things we'd like to do in a given week/month/year whatever. Then he told us to take it and cut off the bottom 60%, because we would no longer have time. We didn't quite believe it, and we really thought all that stuff had to get done, but what do you know? He was right. And we really wanted and loved our kids, so much that we had more! Despite all the stuff we had to cut out of our lives.
What I'm saying is this - if you love something, and you want it bad enough, you Just. Make. Time. And you do, G. You've turned out one and a half books in the last one and a half years. And yeah, maybe you eat boiled pasta and order pizza more than you'd like. Maybe your floors get swiffered once every two weeks instead of every week. Maybe you sleep two hours less (that's what I do) or watch less TV. But you get that shit done. Because it's part of what you need to do to be YOU.
Hang in there. (Oh! And it DOES get easier when you're in crit/query mode. We've just forgotten because we've both been drafting for months and months.) xo
I actually do better when I have a lot on my list. It's that old saying, "If you want something to get done, ask a busy person to do it." But when I'm not busy, darn, I'm a slug!
ReplyDeleteThis is so true, and I feel your pain.
ReplyDelete