An Unbalanced Balancing Act: Writing while Working
How many hats do you wear every day? Not counting the knit beanie you have on right now, inside, 'cause you are always cold, even with the thermostat cranked up to 76.
4 hats, 6 hats, 10 hats, or more?
As a writer, unless you've hit the jackpot (and if you did, would you like to share?), you probably work full time to pay the bills, buy your weekly coffee gallon or two or three, & ensure you have a roof over your head so you don't have to write in the snow. Frozen hands make poor writing tools.
Full time work, a home to keep clean & warm, a spouse, possibly children, pets, parents and all the activities that come with the above... You feel exhausted, don't you? More than likely, you've left your writing to suffer, ignoring the small opportunities you might have to write because, well, LIFE has given you other priorities.
In 2011, I challenged myself to finish my first novel. No more excuses. No matter how truthful the excuses seemed to be & no matter how tired I was at the end of my day, I had to write. I wrote over 50,000 words during NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, held each November. Was my first draft perfect, exactly how I imagined it? Of course not. Did I find myself smacking my head against the wall trying to complete it? Of course I did. But most importantly, I finished what I started out to do. I wrote my first novel. And it felt great.
In 2012, I wrote my second novel. In 2013, I wrote several short stories. I was writing again. Every day, even if only a paragraph hit the page, I still made time to write. Sometimes over lunch, sometimes just in my head, forming the next big idea for tomorrow, wherever I made time, I did. Did my friends and spouse resent me for this, for taking time to write rather than socialize (as I feared they might)? No. Did my head explode from so many stories stirring inside my head, waiting to fall to the page? Not yet.
Balancing a writing life with the rest of your life is anything but balanced. I sometimes neglected my basic needs, preparing healthy food or sticking to a normal fitness routine, in order to write.
But I've come to realize, as 2013 comes to close, that with practice, I can stay sane while wearing the many hats of my life. Sometimes this means taking up yoga, sitting aside five minutes to drink some tea & collect my thoughts, or taking that extra long shower just to have a few quiet minutes to yourself & maybe cry just a little...
In the end, despite the challenges that life throws at us, from illness to family issues, we have to be good to ourselves. As a writer, being good to yourself means allowing yourself time each day to write, whether 5 minutes or 5 hours. Your mind, body and soul will thank you for it.
Please comment below. How have you managed to balance your writing life with the rest of your life? What resolutions will you set in 2014 to get back on your writing path?
4 hats, 6 hats, 10 hats, or more?
As a writer, unless you've hit the jackpot (and if you did, would you like to share?), you probably work full time to pay the bills, buy your weekly coffee gallon or two or three, & ensure you have a roof over your head so you don't have to write in the snow. Frozen hands make poor writing tools.
Full time work, a home to keep clean & warm, a spouse, possibly children, pets, parents and all the activities that come with the above... You feel exhausted, don't you? More than likely, you've left your writing to suffer, ignoring the small opportunities you might have to write because, well, LIFE has given you other priorities.
In 2011, I challenged myself to finish my first novel. No more excuses. No matter how truthful the excuses seemed to be & no matter how tired I was at the end of my day, I had to write. I wrote over 50,000 words during NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, held each November. Was my first draft perfect, exactly how I imagined it? Of course not. Did I find myself smacking my head against the wall trying to complete it? Of course I did. But most importantly, I finished what I started out to do. I wrote my first novel. And it felt great.
In 2012, I wrote my second novel. In 2013, I wrote several short stories. I was writing again. Every day, even if only a paragraph hit the page, I still made time to write. Sometimes over lunch, sometimes just in my head, forming the next big idea for tomorrow, wherever I made time, I did. Did my friends and spouse resent me for this, for taking time to write rather than socialize (as I feared they might)? No. Did my head explode from so many stories stirring inside my head, waiting to fall to the page? Not yet.
Balancing a writing life with the rest of your life is anything but balanced. I sometimes neglected my basic needs, preparing healthy food or sticking to a normal fitness routine, in order to write.
But I've come to realize, as 2013 comes to close, that with practice, I can stay sane while wearing the many hats of my life. Sometimes this means taking up yoga, sitting aside five minutes to drink some tea & collect my thoughts, or taking that extra long shower just to have a few quiet minutes to yourself & maybe cry just a little...
In the end, despite the challenges that life throws at us, from illness to family issues, we have to be good to ourselves. As a writer, being good to yourself means allowing yourself time each day to write, whether 5 minutes or 5 hours. Your mind, body and soul will thank you for it.
Please comment below. How have you managed to balance your writing life with the rest of your life? What resolutions will you set in 2014 to get back on your writing path?
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by
Emily
(new)
Jan 01, 2014 08:36PM
Sigh. I have not found the balance, but I'm so happy that you have. :) just today, I was copying recipes into a homemade cookbook by hand, and I realized: I love even the act of writing, pen on page. Maybe that's part of my issue - I need to get back to basics and say screw the computer when it comes to writing! :) Maybe, I'll get a novel out one day. In the meantime, recipe copying is surprisingly, satisfyingly enough.
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J.K. Rowling wrote her initial idea for Harry Potter on a napkin on a train with a pen. The art of writing is amazing, whether by pencil, pen, typewriter or touchscreen. Perhaps your next novel will involve finding a secret recipe? You never know!
