Finding time for writing has always been a challenge for me. I am guessing it is a challenge for many of us. In recent years, my role as "mommy" has made this challenge even more challenging.
But lately, a new challenge has crept into the picture... It used to be that the majority of time I spent on writing was spent-- writing! Yes, some time was spent on subbing, but writing great manuscripts was the primary goal of my writing time. But lately, I have been devoting an awful lot of time to my writing. Just not in the way I used to.
Time devoted to writing now includes prepping for school visits, doing school visits, doing story times, and, of course, writing to various people suggesting author visits and story times, etc.
Unfortunately, the list above is far from complete. There is so much to do! And everything feels important, and I feel like it is all making a difference for the success of my book.
But I need to find balance. I need to balance writing time and publicity time and mommy time and everything else time.
So how do you all do it? How do you find a balance between publicity / marketing and actual writing? And, of course, the larger question, how do you find balance between writing and the rest of your life? (Making sure that the rest of your life doesn't squeeze out time for writing, as mine did for many years before I made writing a priority.)
Looking forward to hearing how you all make it work1 :o)
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Finding Balance
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I always considered writing cover letters, synopses, querying etc. part of my 'job.' This is the difference between writing with publishing in mind and writing for deeper introspection, just to write.
ReplyDeleteOnce acceptances come in, auxiliary parts expand to the marketing aspect. You are so right- never forget the heart of it all- the art/craft of putting a story onto a page. It is the beginning and the end, and what matters to the reader.
Mirka-- Yes, it is such a lovely job to have! And I am so excited to be doing all of it! You put it very well-- I just don't want to forget "the heart of it all... putting a story onto a page"!
ReplyDeleteI'm the mama-writer boat right along with you, and my daughter's only 2 years old! Finding time to write has been quite a challenge (and that's putting it lightly). I try to get up early, before she wakes, to get at least an hour in, but some weeks she hears me and wakes up. I'm coming to terms with the fact that my writing life may be in snippets until she goes to school. So I guess I don't have the answer, except to say, "Any way you can!" Good luck finding time, and know you're not alone!
ReplyDeleteI find that I work best with a schedule, even if I am solely responsible for setting that schedule. Like for instance, right now, according to my schedule, I'm supposed to be filing the stack of papers on my floor. Okay, so sometimes I fall a little behind...
ReplyDeleteKatherine-- "Any way you can!" is great advice for any writer (and especially for us mamas of little children writers!).
ReplyDeleteJ.A. A schedule sounds like a wonderful idea! I am trying to get my life more organized and this could be a very good goal. Thanks! :o)
I don't remember which famous author it was, but I do remember she said that after a book was published, she set aside a number of months to work on promotion, etc., and accepted the fact that those months were not going to be "writing time."
ReplyDeleteThanks, Gale! That is another real possibility. If I just understand that this time will not be as productive writing-wise, then I can relax (well, maybe that's not quite the right word :o)) and just enjoy all the marketing / publicity end of things!
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