«

»

Apr
20
2011

Juggling… I Mean Starting a Writing Career

Oh my goodness. This whole silly “starting a writing career” thing is tricky somedays! How do you writer’s—aspiring and pubbed—find time in your day to do it all? I want to hear from you!

Somedays it’s very easy for me. I find time to get all of my regular responsibilities done and still have lots of time to fill with writing, submitting, editing, brainstorming, etc. But other days, well, that’s a whole other story. Those days I feel like I’m juggling balls, dowsed in kerosine, and lit on fire.

Today for example, I was outline my new novel while the kids played. Easy-peasy, right? Well, it was easy until they started chanting, “I’m hungry, I’m hungry!” Then it was time to switch into mum mode again and set my story aside. So I started mixing pancake batter and tried to ignore the characters in my head. But I couldn’t—Damn they’re loud sometimes! So I brought my laptop into the kitchen and found a clean spot for it on the counter. To do that, I had to move the easter egg dyeing kit I bought to use today, which reminded me we needed to get started on that right after lunch. So then I had to fill five little cup with water, plop in five little tablets of color and mix once in a while…while I flipped pancakes and outlined the scenes that the characters just wouldn’t shut up about. Oh, and did I forget to mention that I needed to eat also, but not pancakes… No pancakes would be too easy. Since boiling a million eggs yesterday for said dying today, I’ve had the worst craving for egg salad. A craving not to be ignored. So while mixing the dye, flipping the pancakes, and plotting, I then added egg salad making to my list of multi-tasking. Needless to say, a few pancakes were burned in the process.

Now, since I just had to write this blog about this multi-tasking extravaganza, I’m eating my egg salad sandwich while typing…holding on…need another bite…mmmm. *Licks egg salad from fingers before typing again*

So am I the only one stupid enough to try and meet so many different needs at the same time, or are there other crazy writers out there doing fifteen things while they read this post. Speak up! I wanna hear from you! I know you can squeeze in time for one little comment… 😉

Share

About the author

Heather

5 pings

  1. Sandi Sookoo says:

    You’re not alone. There’s a saying out there that says if you have a messy house, a writer must live there. lol I find this especially true if I’m working on a book. Housework goes down to zip unless someone is in dire need of clean underwear lol Only between projects does my house get clean. Same goes for dinners. Sometimes they’re really good. Sometimes, if I’ve been writing all day, it’s “fend for yourself with leftovers”.

    It’s okay. You’re a writer. Welcome to the insanity. lol

    1. Heather says:

      Thanks for coming by, Sandra! I find I’m usually very motivated between projects to clean and organize so that I can go into the next project with a clean slate. For dinners, my best friend is now my crock pot. That thing has saved us from starvation many nights!

  2. Janet Lane Walters says:

    Heather, I do not envy your days at all. Those are far behind me, thank heavens. I did train my kids and for part of the time when they were small I had a sitter for those times when I wanted to write. I also kept peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cheese ones wrapped in foil in the refrigerator so they could help themselves and I had a bunch of small thermoses filled with juice and milk. Then when I was being a writer and raising a granddaughter while her Mom worked it was easy, especially since this was a great child who would sit in my recliner with paper and pencil and write while I typed. She used to tell her mother, aunts and uncles, much older now to go away. “Grandma’s making words. She does not want to talk to you right now.
    It will get better.

    1. Heather says:

      Hi Janet! My days are certainly busy with the kids still home at least part of the time. Once they go to school, I’ll have a ton more time to write and focus. I’m looking forward to that, but not so much that I want my little ones to grow up too fast. For now, I’m good trying to deal with the chaos!

  3. Jennifer Probst says:

    HI Heather! I LOVE your new site – super cool – and thanks for this post. I just did a post on time management at Savvy Authors because I have been struggling with more time at home and less time spent writing! My house is never clean. I really like Sandra’s quote that it means a writer must live there! We will all get there – some better days than not – but the kids being young is a struggle because they need me 24/7 so my writing is more in dribbles rather than spurts.

Comments have been disabled.