As I said in my last post its been awhile since I've written for my blog. There are two reasons for my absence. The good one, which I mentioned a couple of days ago, was my long, long-awaited vacation to Antigua. The second reason – I got a job.
Now here's the tricky part – I should be jumping up and down for joy and I guess a part of me – the part that likes a regular, decently-sized paycheck – is very happy. But part of me is completely resentful. Though I am currently an independent contractor for the company I am working full time, that means 7 to 8 hour days – that means no more extra time to work on my novel, or my blog.
And that's where the disappointment and resentment comes in. I was enjoying writing my novel, I was enjoying making progress every day, seeing the story take shape and even starting to get a feel for my main character. My first reaction to realizing I had a fulltime job was fear. Fear that I was going to have to give up my dream of being an author. I've made more progress on my novel since I lost my job than before. I don't want to go back to making no progress.
So now I'm back to where I was before, at my old job. I can't write in the evenings because I can't write when my husband is in the house. He's just too distracting. And, I'll admit I also like evening TV. On the couple of evenings I have nothing to watch I try to get in some reading --- I have a book review due at the start of January and I haven't started reading the book yet.
In the first two weeks of this new job I've written not one single word for my novel, and until two days ago, I hadn't written a single blog entry since mid-November. I felt like I was starting to see my dreams dissolve.
And then I read a thread on the Sisters in Crime Guppies listserv about trying to fit it all in – work, family, writing. And reading how other people are managing was both inspiring and helpful. It helped me look at my life and my schedule and figure out how I can get it all in.
So I've decided a few things. First of all Saturday mornings before my husband wakes up will be writing time. I should be able to get in 2 to 4 hours before he gets out of bed. Second, every other Tuesday I go into New York City to visit my newborn niece. On the ride to the city I'll write blog entries (guess where I'm writing this??). I'll also try to write at least one blog entry every weekend. That should keep me at 3 to 4 posts a week, which is fine with me.
But most importantly I will start getting up earlier on the weekdays (I work from home so have no commute time) and write for an hour before starting work. Even if I only get 1000, 500 or 200 words written a day, that will be forward progress and that's all I can ask for.
I will not give up my dream just because I have to work a full-time job. Most authors work full-time jobs and are still successful writers. If they can do it, so can I. It's not going to be easy, it's going to take hard work – but as I've said before, writing IS hard work.
And I feel ready to tackle the challenge.
How do you fit it all in?
Brave New World
3 hours ago
Congrats on the job! I'm glad i'm not too far behind on your good news.
ReplyDeleteLet me (the blog) know how your scheduing works. I keep trying to have strick time frames to get things done. But it's really hard not to just work on one thing and let the others slide.
I have an aquaintence that schedules his entire day by the hour and is extremely productive. I can't even seem to make simple lists sometimes.
I'm trying to get my kids into good habits, learn disciple and manners, so i can see what it takes. But how can we really do this as adults...oh yeah, hire a life coach that acts like a parent to 'pester' you into it.
Too bad we can't get our real parents to continue the disciple - at least that might be free. Perhaps someone could develop an app for it ;)
Sharon W.
Well, as you can see from the number of blog entries I've written since this one (one!) I haven't yet managed to make the whole scheduling thing work. I'm getting there but its not easy. I actually am pretty good at multi-tasking so trying to do several things at once or in a day isn't too hard for me. It's just when there's way more than two are three things, that it gets difficult. I could never schedule my day by the hour though, I'd never be able to stick with it. I think the key is to take little steps. Give yourself little goals and work up to fitting it all in. Your first goal, make a list every evening of the things you want to accomplish the next day. Remind yourself if you get only one-quarter of them done, you've still accomplished something!
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