#ROW80 is A Round of Words in 80 Days. It’s a quarterly writing challenge where you define your personal goals and blog each week about your progress. It’s made to be flexible and allow for tweaking.
When this year started, my theme song was Feeling Good by Michael Buble. Because I’m kind, I’ll include it below.
Isn’t that a great video?
I really felt great about my year. I was heading toward a double-header release month in February, I was recovering from my surgery, I hadn’t gained a pound during the holidays and I was starting to change some things about my life I was really unhappy with.
2012 for me was all about getting my head down, writing as much as I could and getting books written. I did that to the exclusion of a social life, dating, and anything that didn’t really relate to my books or writing. It was a lonely way to go, but the benefits were tangible. I knew that in 2013 I was going to have to pull back on my productivity and get a social life. I have to have friends, do things and get out. It’s just a need, not a want, and my social tank was on E.
It seems that as soon as it rolled over to 2013 my train jumped to the social track and all I did was hang out with people, go out and ignore my writing. I was nearly fully recovered from surgery and I wanted to get out. I fell off my diet wagon and for the life of me I couldn’t get anything done. It’s no secret that I’ve struggled for the last three months to really find something that works for me between the day job, having friends and writing. The answer came in an unexpected package, but I’m glad it landed in my lap!
Last month I started working from home and I’ve found the schedule that works for me. Balance is a tricky thing. There’s nothing that will directly even out, you have to fiddle with it, put 5 pounds on one side, and a 2 and 3 pounder on the other. It’s that combination, that works. What works for me won’t work for anyone else so it’s not like I can sit here and give you sage advice on how to make it work for you, I can only tell you what worked for me.
Balance has helped me in other ways, not just with writing. I’m balancing the time I spend on-line by unplugging some. I’m looking at my friends and instead of just seeing them when I see them, I’m planning to get with them specifically. The trick is that the writing and day job stuff must be finished first. That’s one little rule that I have to watch and not skimp on.
I’m really happy with the progress and work flow I’ve developed the last few weeks. Here’s hoping I sing the same song next week!
How do you manage to balance writing, family, friends and work?
Balance is definitely tricky. I’m still learning to balance family and writing. It’s gotten a little easier with Cupcake in daycare three days a week, but I have to be careful there, too.
Some times I’m like, “Oh. She’s in daycare today. I can go do groceries and take the dog to the groomer’s.” But by the time I’m done and get home, it’s almost time for me to go back out and pick her up.
Next week I’ll be experimenting, and hopefully I’ll find something that works better.
I think the key is to be flexible. Some days will just work better than others.
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“How do you manage to balance writing, family, friends and work?” Umm…I’m not sure I’ve figured that one out yet.
It seems that no matter how I rearrange things–even in huge ways, like quitting my day job to write and freelance edit full-time–I almost always feel a little off-balance. I mean, maybe things will feel good and balanced for like a week, but then they go back to feeling too busy or not busy enough (and then I freak out about finances, not to mention all those unprocessed emotions that pop up when I’m not distracted) or maybe the right amount of busy but I feel like I’m spending too much time socializing & not enough time working, or the reverse….
Maybe the areas of my life aren’t supposed to be perfectly balanced all the time. Maybe balance is more like what you did–concentrate on one thing for a while, then put your focus somewhere else for a while–so that it all gets done but I’m not doing it all in any given time period (week/month/year/decade). Good food for thought anyway. Thanks for the prompt!
P.S. Congrats on the books! Looking forward to checking them out.
Sione Aeschliman (@writelearndream) recently posted..Robin Schauffleur interview published
It’s good to hear that you’ve found the right balance between work, writing and socialising. I’ve heard that it can be quite a challenge to work from home and not get caught up in ‘home stuff’ when it’s work time, but it sounds like this isn’t a problem for you. Hurray!
Being an introvert, socialising isn’t so much a need of mine, although I do make an effort to get out and about so that my toddler gets to interact with other people.
Writing just wasn’t something I had much time or energy for until this year – let’s hope it continues! It helps that my husband gets home early enough in the evening that I can get a chance to do some writing before it’s too late at night and I’m longing for my pillow and duvet! Writers need support from family and/or friends because it’s just not possible to do everything by yourself.
Hope your own writing is going well. All the best. 🙂
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