Thursday, June 01, 2006
Day late and dollar shortWell, some time ago we agreed to make an effort to keep up the content on this blog, with Wednesday being "my" day. It was even my suggestion! But time has a way of slipping past me, and this week was no exception.
So I want to talk about the time it takes to be a writer.
The thing about being a writer is -- well -- I'm always working. Even if I'm not sitting down at the computer, typing away, I'm still thinking about the writing. Plotting, planning, working...imagining.
I've set a daily page goal for myself so I can meet a deadline. It's not an unreasonable goal: 10 pages a day. I can do that with my hands tied, on a day I have "time." But, you might ask, don't you always have time, Sparkles?
And here's where it gets complicated.
I'm not only a writer, I'm a mother and a wife, too. And yeah, it falls to me to take care of the house and the kids and the spouse. And I'm not complaining about that, it just means I'm a working mother and there are many of them in the world with harder jobs than mine. It does mean, though, that I am never done. I'm never left alone long enough to write, except when the kids are in school. And then, if I'm home, invariably the phone rings. Laundry beckons. The internet distracts me. So, I go out to write, I kick butt, and I create, I produce, I RAWK. Summer comes, kids are home, living should be easy and where's my writing time?
I'm still here, in fact have fewer obligations to activities and events and school things where YES, I GUESS I CAN COME IN AND SUPERVISE THAT FIELD TRIP *headdesk*. We don't have to get up early, so I can stay up later. Cooking's easy, too.
So why is it so much harder to get any writing done?
Ten pages a day, five days a week. More on the days the kids are in camp and I can be a full time writer. A 400 pages book written, edited and polished before August 15.
Can I make this summer?
*dives in*
--M
