The Balancing Act

In the past year, I have gone through so many life changes — good life changes— that sometimes learning to balance a new career, my writing and enjoying actual time off is a real balancing act.

I have never had more than a week off at a time. This year, I have the whole month of May off, and pretty much June and July off except for teaching one night a week. This leaves me with a lot of free time. I spent the first two weeks of my time off visiting New Hampshire and my 8-month-old grandson. Those two weeks flew by. As I return home to Tennessee, I find myself wandering around my house aimlessly, starting a few projects only to be distracted by something else. I am usually a well organized person with my time, but I have always had little free time so it was required to keep my time well managed.

There are plenty of projects to keep me busy, but staying focused in the problem. I need to unpack my office (home office), and yes, I have been living in Tennessee for about three and half years nows and it still isn’t unpacked. That should be high on the proriority list. I also have 2 books that need finishing — Book #2 in The Rules Series, Making the Rules, and LIzzie, Book #1 in The Copycat Chronicles. Both books are half done and need to be finished. And then there is preparing for my mythology class that I’m teaching this summer, as well as looking into developing a mythology class for eCampus.

So how does one balance their life when they find more free time on their hands then they are used to? My middle daughter suggested leaving my house and working at a coffee shop or my school office so I’m not distracted as much. That is a good idea and one I am going to be trying next week. In the meantime, a little extra sunshine can’t hurt to help start my summer tan.

Behind the Screen

There have been many changes in my life over the past few years. As most of you know, I had taken a three-year hiatus from writing. Between selling my home in New Hampshire and moving to Tennessee, starting a new job and grad school, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Last November I released a new book for the first time in three years. It felt great to be back to writing. So, with my coming back into the writing world, my website has been given a new look and I’m going to be doing more blogging and getting out a regular newsletter.

You will get a glimpse into the life changes that have brought me to where I am today and all the wonderful changes that have gone on in the past year or two. Stay tune for the first installment of my journey back to writing.

Writing Schedules

How important is it for a writer to have a schedule?  In my opinion, extremely.  If you plan to make writing your career and want to write full time, you need to treat it as a full time job.  You need to work set hours and put in the effort and time into what you plan for your career.  I don't know how many times I heard my grandmother say "You get what you put into it".  How true that is especially with writing.

If you follow my blog, you will know that I have a very set career path of writing full time within the next year or so.  In that vein, I need to set my writing work hours and treat my writing as if it was a job that I had to answer to someone else for.  I set how much time I spend a day writing, and although I love the flexibility of changing the hours if I need to day to day depending on what is going on in my life, I have to remain rigid in the fact that I need to have at least three to four hours set aside each day for writing.

As I progress further into my writing career, I need to also set time for marketing and updating social media.  And let's face it -- social media is a necessary evil for writers.  It helps us connect with our readers, other writers and gives us the opportunity for networking, however it can be a huge time sucker from your day if you get caught up in it.  I have found that I need to allow myself so much time in the day for social media and I use it in small chunks.  Morning with my coffee -- check social media.  After a writing chunk and I need a break -- I allow myself another social media check in and then again in the evening when my day is winding down.

What kind of writing schedule do you have and do you struggle with sticking to it?

Continuing the Journey

This week I have been battling a head cold. I love the fall in New England, but getting a head cold is just plain miserable.  However as I have rested on the couch, I have spent time reevaluating where my writing is going and where I want it to go.

As I wrote last week, I have started on this new journey of self-discovery. I have found that I have missed me, missed having the confidence that I used to have and the insane ability to think I could do anything I wanted. Well, maybe not anything….but my life goal now is to be a full time writer.

I have three books out now. As I finished my fourth book in June and am about a third away through my fifth, I have come to realize that my writing has changed as I weave myself on this journey of self discovery. My writing has become strong, much like myself. I find my female characters becoming stronger women, and although they want love and romance, they are independent and strong. They have a quiet inner strength that only comes from learning in life.  Please feel free to check out my books here.

My writing goals have expanded into having projects planned for well into next year. There will be new releases coming from me regularly, whether I continue to indie publish or continue on a path of hybrid where I will continue to work with traditional publishers as well as indie publish.

So where does this new journey take me in my personal life? Well, I continue to look for a day job that will supplement paying the bills as I am once again out of work for the third time in two years. With businesses closing, my employment has been a challenge with my last two jobs ending due to a business closing and one selling. Although I am in need of a job, my heart longs to just write full time and fill my day with filling pages with my stories that spin around in my mind.

So with another job interview tomorrow and then a road trip for some book research this weekend, I am taking notes furiously for the next few books, one of which I am dying to get started on. As soon as I finish the current one, the next one will start flowing which already I know will be a story that will be near and dear to my heart. Stay tune for more updates on the journey of my life and finding myself.