Tag Archive for: writing challenges

Rocking the Day Job

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By Cathy Perkins
Waving from warm, sunny Orlando today. Quite a change from
last month’s endless snow.

photo by Cathy PerkinsI wish I could say I’m on vacation. Instead, I’m rocking the
day job, teaching at my firm’s management school and taking a (shh! really
boring) mandatory class, made bearable by my peers (who also have to take it).
This week made me think about careers and balancing. I know
authors who have ditched their day job to write full time. Many others are like
me—working full time at a job that pays the bills and offers health insurance.
Since it’s the season to count your blessings and make plans for the new year,
I’ll start with gratitude I have an interesting job that sends me money twice a
month. J
Layer in writing, volunteers gigs, and the rest of my life,
however, and it’s a lot of balls to keep in the air. Over the past few weeks,
I’ve read a number of blog posts talking about time management and work/life
balance. While I try to implement some of the tips, consistently, the best advice I’ve received is “write every day.” Even
if it’s only a line or two, put those words on the page first thing in the
morning. Otherwise, the day’s demands can catch up (and overwhelm) leaving
you exhausted at the end of the day.  Creative energy? What’s that? As much as I hate to admit it, I find if I get
out of the “habit” of writing, days or weeks can slide past.
photo by Cathy Perkins
What about you? Are you rocking the day job? Writing full
time? Balancing other commitments? 

What’s your best advice for maintaining
balance or finding time to write?

Oh. And the deer came over to welcome me home to the snow.  

Me Time

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by Bethany Maines

The problem with releasing books on a schedule is that now
I’m writing on a schedule. But you know, not actually. Because actually writing
would require me to solve the plot problem that I’m stuck at, stop this
blogging nonsense and get back to writing the novel, for work to stop coming
along like a freight train, and for my family to stop wanting to see me. Except
for the plot issue, none of that seems likely to happen.  How do you write when life is full of
time constraints?
I have one author/mom friend who stole an hour to go write
at the library only to discover it was closed and instead of going home again,
she sat in the parking lot and sucked their wi-fi and worked on her
laptop.  And I’m typing this from
the couch as I woke up an hour early to sneak time to write before the wee
monster (aka the lawn ornament aka Salazar the Destroyer aka Zoe) wakes up.
Writing was so much easier when I was single and living in my parents upstairs.
I would sneak down, get food, and retreat to my computer to make up an excitingworld about a girl who becomes a spy when she can’t find a job in her chosen field.  Not that anyone ever had
that daydream.  Ahem.  Moving on. 

My point is, I may be a happier, more well-rounded
individual with family and what not, but all those pleasant mental-health
balancing things suck up time (with little adorable faces). Now writing is
something that I have to fight for. 
It’s a new and somewhat uncomfortable position to be in, because writing
was always something that I did for me. But now “me things” are taking up time
where family and friends and work things also need time. It’s hard to find the
right mix and it’s almost impossible to keep everyone happy.  But I still keep trying because I think
that me things are what make me who I am. 
Now if only me could come up with a solution to that stupid plot
problem…
Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, Tales from the City of Destiny and An Unseen Current.  You can also view the Carrie Mae youtube video
or catch up with her on Twitter and Facebook.