This weeks blog chain topic is brought to us by Lisa as a parting gift as she has left the blog chain. As much as I'll miss LIsa, I am so happy to welcome Demitria to the blog chain and can't see her blog post this coming Friday! Now onto this chain's question...
The balancing act. How do you balance your writing time with everything else in your life--including, kids, job, book promotion?
GAH. What a really great and timely question.
I am writing this post on a Sunday afternoon - the day before it will post.
I am squeezing this in between cooking for a Superbowl party for my family and the time until my family will come over.
Before being able to write this post I had to convince my son that although I would love his help while I was working on the computer - it really DIDN'T help to have him sitting on my lap and playing with the mouse as I typed.
Now both children are being distracted by watching a show I downloaded onto my Ipod. It is only thirty minutes long - so I need to type fast.
Tomorrow, I have work at my 9-5 job.
I also have books to read and my next book to begin writing.
One of these days I'll be getting a revision letter back from my editor for another book.
OH! And I also need to do promotion for ANOTHER LITTLE PIECE that debuts in June.
And then there are the two dogs who need to be fed and walked and brushed and...
And the house which constantly needs to be cleaned.
And laundry.
And putting food on the table every night. The kids like to eat breakfast and lunch too, so we have to think about that too. Thank goodness for cereal and good old peanut butter and jelly.
Let's also not forget about sleep. Because I like to sleep. A lot. And I really hate that achy, tired eyes, thumping head tiredness that comes with not getting enough of it.
Then there's exercise. You would think all this STUFF would burn calories, but since a lot of my stuff involves sitting on my butt in front of a computer - yeah, not so much. I have to admit that lately exercise have fallen way to the bottom of my list. I really need to do something about that. Tomorrow maybe. Or the day after that.
So how do I balance it all? Ummmm...
Well, what I do is... Errrrrr...
Okay, so to keep all the balls in the air, the thing to remember is... Huh.
The truth is - I don't balance everything. All the balls - not in the air. Some of them even roll under the couch and then sit there for a really long time.
This is the best advice I have to give about balance and I do my best to follow it myself.
Do what you can when you can. Don't beat yourself up when something slips through the cracks. And don't ruin your nails trying to dig it back out. Some things slip through the cracks because they just aren't that important after all. And most importantly, occasionally let yourself be lazy and useless. Sit in your clothes that need to be washed, in the middle of your house that needs to be cleaned, next to the piles of work that need to be done, refuse to make eye contact with that dust-covered elliptical and just relax.
Ha ha ha. No, I'm just kidding. You'd need a horse tranquilizer to relax under those circumstances. The best I can usually do is distract myself with TV. Lately I've been loving The New Girl and Happy Endings. But watch what makes you happy - even if it is Honey Boo Boo.
And then when it's over - turn off the TV and get back to work.
That's all the wisdom I have for today, but this blog chain continues for the next two weeks. To keep following it, make sure you check out Sandra's blog tomorrow.
