GENREALITY

My daughter became suddenly very ill earlier in the week, and while she’s improving now she has tested positive for the flu. We’re waiting on results from an additional test to tell us if it’s the garden-variety or the H1N1 virus (she was exposed to the latter at school.) I’ve had my shots, and we’ve put her brother on Tamiflu as a preventive measure, but as you can imagine it’s a little scary. All good thoughts and prayers you might care to send Kat’s way will be greatly appreciated.

I did have a very old post recycled from my first weblog queued to publish here today (something I threw together the day Kat got sick), but the kid is napping at the moment so I’m going to take this chance to dictate some new material. Since my writing life has been majorly disrupted, that makes an excellent topic to discuss.

As any stay-at-home parent/author will tell you, juggling family and home responsibilities with a full-time professional writing career is a constant challenge any day of the week. But when an emergency comes up at home, as it did for me on Tuesday when my kid woke up with a raging fever, you have to put the job to the side and focus on caring for your loved one. That said, a little preparation and creating some bumpers can keep you from falling too far behind on work.

I have three blogs going at the moment: PBW, my photoblog, and my weekly contribution here at Genreality. If I had to post to each one on a day-to-day basis, I doubt I could keep up a daily schedule, so I try to stay a week ahead on my posts or stockpile some draft posts to use in the event of an emergency. Things have been so hectic lately with deadlines and ongoing contract negotiations that I’ve actually used up almost all of my blog bumpers (which is why I didn’t have anything prepared to post on Genreality this week) but as of tonight my photoblog is still stocked with six more days of scheduled posts, which means I have only one daily blog and Genreality to worry about updating.

If you’re working under a deadline and the unforeseen descends, it’s generally tough to keep to your regular writing schedule. That doesn’t mean your writing has to come to a screeching halt; you just have to be more creative in finding time to work. I’ve been getting up an hour earlier than normal for the last two weeks to get some writing done, and I’ve made my editing portable by printing out a few pages at a time and taking them with me to my daughter’s doctor appointments (if you’re going to sit in a waiting room for an hour, you might as well do a little editing. Those of you who have netbooks or smart keyboards can probably take them along and get some writing done, too.)

Hectic times mean delegating tasks whenever possible, and not just around the house. This week I was sure I would have to close a deal with a publisher, something in which I usually get deeply involved with e-mails and phone calls and discussions, but with my daughter sick there just wasn’t time. So I made my agent into my bumper by letting her know what I wanted upfront, and let her manage the negotiations for me. She closed the deal this morning, and all I had to do was review the offer and accept it — which I did with two quick e-mails.

I also try to combine tasks when possible. This week I needed to mail off a giveaway book, send my Dad a birthday gift, put gas in my truck, pick up two prescriptions, buy the invalid some pampering food from the market and retrieve some dry-cleaning. Rather than make a separate trip into town to accomplish each task, I waited until I had everything ready, brought in a sitter to watch Kat for an hour and did everything in a single trip.

I also had a new novel release this past Tuesday, but nearly all of my promo was done in advance in bumper-fashion. I do have one more thing to finish, and it is not going to get done this week, so I’m letting it go until I have time to get back to it. The same thing goes with my author blog; I put up a post last night to let my readers know that Kat was sick and my updates would probably be sporadic for the duration. I think just letting go and letting people know you’ve got a crisis can be one of the hardest things to do, but if it takes away some stress in the process, it can also be one of the most helpful bumpers.

You can’t predict when an emergency will happen in your life, but you can anticipate the possibility and do a little extra work now to give yourself some bumpers for later. It also saves you a lot of stress to plan ahead and be prepared for something disrupting your writing life, because when that emergency happens, you won’t be carrying around the additional burden of worrying about work or how you’ll catch up once things are back to normal.

Now I’m off to do a little work for my editor before I wake Kat for her meds and make her comfortable for the night. Then I think I might give myself a little energy bumper by going to bed an hour earlier . . .

Tweet This Post