(Dear Genreality. This is actually a re-post from my blog earlier this summer. The sad thing is, if you substitute “Fed-Ex Truck arrives” with “Power goes out for 6 hours,” this could have been written today.)
These are all the things that have happened since I sat down to write this post at 8:23 a.m.
08:35 The Fed-Ex van arrives. Dogs go crazy.
08:40 The package contains my edits on Texas Gothic. I go crazy.
09:00 Cease hyperventilating, resolve to finish iLesson and Genreality post for tomorrow before further freak out.
10:13 Business phone call.
10:45 Leaf-blower-of-doom arrives. Dogs go crazy. I go crazy.
11:10 Two dogs need to go out.
11:15 Family phone call.
11:20 Two more dogs need to go out.
11:21 One dog doesn’t finish business outside, so finishes inside. Wipe up floor.
11:30 I break a (full) glass. Sweep floor, mop, sweep again, vacuum, mop one final time for slivers.
12:00 Cannot remember Hemingway quote for iLesson. Google “Hemingway on writing.” Spend an hour reading amusing but irrelevant quotations and anecdotes.
12:05 Explained to Mom that “⌘C” is useless without “⌘V”. (Sorry Mom. But that was kind of funny.)
12:30 Lunchtime. Mom makes her lunch. Dogs go crazy.
1:05 pm Consider running away to Key West to live with bottle of scotch and house full of polydactyl cats.
People say to me (a lot) “I wish I could just stay at home and write without the distractions of a full time job.” To which I say, there is no such thing as a world without distractions. And these are just the things I can’t control. I didn’t mention the temptation distractions, like Supernatural on TNT every morning or the sale at the mall or “just one game” of Rock Band.
I say with embarrassment that I spent my time much more productively when I had a “day job” and could only write at night. I wrote more in those stolen two or three hours than I sometimes do now all day. I guarded my writing time preciously, knowing I only had that much, and no more.
Even now, I sometimes don’t even bother trying to produce new prose during they day, but stay up late to write when dogs, moms, and lawn services have gone to bed. I know writers who get up at 4 am to write before their kids wake up for school.
Whatever works.
Make the most of your time, however much time you have. Don’t be afraid to guard that time, and stress the importance of it to your family… and to yourself!
–
*The Leaf Blower of Doom is my nemesis, and makes frequent appearances on my blog. The neighbor’s lawn service seems to know exactly when I’m on deadline or otherwise stressed out… like when the power is out for 6 hours.
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Might be an older post, but love it still. I have learned by trying to work security for a mall and doing this writing thing, is alot of hard work, and alot of distractions, sometimes i can’t get anything done in writing and I sort of to start panicking. Then i’ve got those friends that say it’s okay, just start now, instead of melt down.
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Yes, “Don’t Panic” has become my mantra… I would say lately, but it’s one of those things I have to keep telling myself, too.