Hello once again, Readers!!! How are you this lovely morning? I am freaking fantastic! I just received the first mock-up for the Embracing the Flames cover! I can’t wait to see the finished product!!! I also found out that the possibility of print is not too far off! It’s in the works!!! *squeal*
But I digress.
With the new year, more opportunities and ideas have flourished. Book three, From the Embers, is almost 50k in! I’m thinking another month or so and I will be ready to start edits! Conventions are being looked at, marketing is being attacked full-force, and another project (the one from NaNo) will be completed!
Wooh!
That’s a lot, right? Sometimes it almost feels impossible or unattainable. But I have a problem with going after the unattainable.
GET TO THE POINT!
Okay! One of the hardest parts of being a writer (I have discovered) is not being patient (because I have mastered that), but finding balance. I have to balance my home life, squeeze in time for writing, and find time to market. That’s barely touching the scope of daily responsibilities and unprepared-for incidents that occur. It’s not an easy task, but it is doable. And I am here to give you the steps you need to help you along!
- Find a caffeinated beverage and STICK with it! Yes *raises hand* I am a Red Bull addict, but only because it gives me wings! How else am I supposed to multi-task?
- Speaking of multi-tasking, learn to do just that. Plan your days around things you can do simultaneously that will eliminate time misuse. As a fulltime author, it is not just about locking yourself away and writing non-stop. Unless you have a huge marketing team backing you, you have to be sociable and branch out. Meet new people, extend yourself, help others, ect.
- Form a routine. For instance, my mornings are spent researching, marketing, answering emails, and eating a granola bar (with a Red Bull). If I can, I squeeze in a blog post too. Mid-afternoons (nap time for my daughter) is where I shut everything off and zone into writing. Roughly two hours worth. Then I have to grab my son from school. I clean, prepare dinner, and try to fit in exercise around this time (late-afternoon). Then I usually finish up my writing and social media stuff and call it a night. It’s not the best, but it keeps me on point and not feeling scattered.
- Take a break if you become overwhelmed. Nothing is more thwarting than feeling tired and bummed out. That is your body’s way of telling you to take a break.
- Write! No matter what, you must find time to do this. You must devote yourself to it if you want it to happen.
Point is, balance is something you work for, just like everything else. You have to find it. You have to apply it, even when the unexpected happens. Some of you know this and have probably mastered it, and some of you may be like me, searching through piles of laundry, trying to find it. Don’t give up. Some days will be easy and others will be hard. Isn’t that what balance is all about?
Now to leave you with a question: How do you deal with stress and writing?
Echelon out, Peeps ♥
I roll the stress into my writing, but then again my writing is not a novel or something else that requires structure beyond what I give it.
Writing always makes things better! No matter if it’s into a novel or in a journal!
That’s very good advice and a very tough question for me. I tend to write slower when stressed, but I escape into my world to clear the slowly clear the stress. The best way to explain my situation is that one day I finally snapped, told everyone that I was going to write, and then I was just able to write under most situations. I’m still stressed, but I kind of use my writing to step away from the stress and escape. It’s become increasingly easier to transition from reality to my world without losing my rhythm. Again, this is possibly something that’s unique to my chaotic life and odd-working brain. I’m not even sure I’m explaining it right.
I totally get it! It was similar for me. I just had to put my foot down and devote myself, and then the well broke open!
Well breaking open is a really good analogy. I have to remember that one.
Either that or a dam lol.
You fit a lot in and put me to shame. I need a bit of peace before I can write, not necessarily whilst I’m doing it. I can shut out noises while I’m actually writing, but I can’t get my brain to wander around where it needs to go unless I have a little space. And that gap of space is increasingly hard to find. Sometimes this is beyond my control, sometimes it’s my own fault, because I allow stuff in.
Been better since New Year which has meant I have written more, but as a result I’ve blogged less and Twittered virtually not at all.
Hmm. Balance. Haven’t found it yet….
I think #5 is all I can focus on doing at this point! I work full time (usually full time plus OT), then come home to the house and family that usually doesn’t settle down until 9pm. At that point I can blog, research, write, etc. I look forward to the day I can write full time, but for now, just having a goal to write at some point each day is sufficient.
Sometimes I’ll even write at work when I’m inspired, and e-mail the text to myself to pop into the manuscript later…
Sounds like you have it all under control! That was my life a couple of years ago until I was able to quit my job lol.