ROW80: Chickenpox and Early Mornings
My goal was to finish editing my book. It sounded so simple those few short weeks ago, but sitting here now, wondering how it can already be May! I find myself not just behind schedule but completely off course.
That being said I am both reading and writing every day and loving the experience. Not just because I am being productive but because it relaxes me.
The problem for me isn't the act of writing or editing, but finding the time to sit down and write and edit.
Work has recently been very busy, and is only getting busier, which has seen me eliminate on average 4 of my 5 lunch breaks a week each is 2.5 hours of writing gone right there. Not to mention the extra levels of tired I have discovered exist by the time I come home each day, put the kids to bed, tidy up a bit It takes me that little bit longer each day to get into the writing groove.
I am also currently writing some freelance articles for a friend of mine in an effort to build up a savings pot to be able to afford some good quality artwork for my novel. This also takes up to an hour a day away from me. Although it is still writing so if I just adjusted my goals slightly to incorporate this new 'project' I could easily pull myself back on track and quite possibly be ahead of schedule.
Having three young children at home (Aged 4, 2 and 9 months (almost)) it is hard to find any time to write while they are awake, not only because they want attention, but because I want to give it to them. Especially during the week I see them so little I could not sit and write and waste the few minutes I get with them. The way I counter this is to get out of bed early. Normally at 5:15 this gives me about 1 hour to write (to myself) and normally enables me to hit my target before the day as begun. OK less often with my editing target than word count targets but you get the gist of it.
That plan used to work well for me, however recently the kids have all taken to waking up at around 5 am, which has successfully remove the writing time I had before work too, thus eliminating 5 hours of writing time per week.I could wake up even earlier and try to write before they wake, but I have to be realistic. I'm not 18 any more, I need those 6 hours of sleep a night to function properly at work, and not be too grumpy during the day.
My eldest son has as of last night come down with the dreaded chickenpox, and so we are sure it is only a matter of time before the other two contract it. Don't get me wrong this is a good thing, because having the disease once means, should you contract it again later in life (which is not likely from what I have been led to believe) then it is a much milder case and actually has its own name. The only hanging point (and when it is with your kids this doesn't matter at all) is the potential for sleepless nights, but then again maybe, just maybe if I am up all night with them, I can catch up with my editing targets while they sleep.
