In keeping with the title of the blog, the month of April has been all about road trips. Easter found us in Memphis for vacation, then we traveled to Nashville, Cincinnati and Columbus for a combination of college campus touring, high school lacrosse games and a work conference for me. Yesterday's road trip was to Indianapolis for more HS lacrosse. In total, about 6 hours of driving and 7 hours of bleacher sitting to watch 4 games. Our son figured prominently in the 2 JV games, and did see the field for a few minutes in the last Varsity game. It was a beautiful, sunny, but windy day. With only 2.5 more years of our only child at home we are trying hard to relish all the hours spent in pursuit of his goals since, all too soon, he'll be off on his own and we'll be wishing we had a game to go watch.
However, and this is the point of this post, these road trips don't leave much time for writing. And, I find, life in general doesn't leave much time for writing. Given that the income stream from my writing endeavors seems very far away (and often non-existent), I am going to keep my day job. 8 to 5, every day, all year - with a little time off for good behavior. Layered on top of the job are my son's activities and all the related feeding, laundry, shopping & forms to sign, quality time with my wonderful husband, household responsibilities, the pursuit of a social life (of sorts), attempts at incorporating exercise into my routine, and the all-important sleep component of my day. Confession: I am not a morning person and can be a grouch all day if I am at all sleep-deprived. And please don't misinterpret my venting. I am blessed to have such a full life. I get that and I do try to appreciate it. It's because it is a good life that I am loathe to let things go in order to write. I don't deal well with chaos and disorder. I'm not a true artist in that sense; there's definitely some anal-retentive tendencies that drive my every day priorities.
But all the books, blogs and articles say you have to write every day. And you have to research editors and agents. And you have to work at your craft and revise, revise, revise. And you have to have a blog. And, and, and... It's that last and that leaves me a little frustrated. There simply aren't enough hours in the day and my creative muse is a random creature at best. So I wonder how others carve out time from their busy lives to feed and nurture their writing habit (or any other talent or hobby for that matter) every day?? Warning: Please don't suggest getting up at 5:00 a.m. and writing before work - I know that works for some but all I'll be able to write is zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Thoughts?
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Al - just back from my Girls Gone Wild tour with Aunt Sara - can't emphasize enough what a good road trip does for the soul. But in terms of suggestions for blogging critique or timing - I'm probably not the right influence for you. However, a glass of wine does much for the creativity, as well as ignoring the housework. But then again, you'd probably guess that about me. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteAlison,
ReplyDeleteI feel for you because I too have the same struggles. I could go on a diatribe about how today's women are expected to do it all (and then some) but that wouldn't get either one of us anywhere so...I try to muster the energy to stay up for an hour or two after my husband goes to bed for my 'writing time' but, a)sometimes that's 11:30 or 12:00 which I can't do or b)I've done it for several days in row and am now severely sleep deprived and fall asleep putting the kids to bed. Probably not very helpful so let me know when you think of something!! :)
First of all I second the wine suggestion, even Anne Lamott speaks of the help wine provides to get the creative jucies flowing. (Or maybe it was her dads drinking buddies.) With that said, what about a lunch date with your lap top. Mid day I usually still have creative energy left and a girl has got to eat. Anyway, just a suggestion. I have had the most successs in the evening like Cari but sometimes the morning calls.
ReplyDeleteI'm going through this same thing too, and I'm getting no writing done. I think the lack of "me" time -- no distractions, toddlers jumping on me, etc. -- is affecting my muse. It's much easier to edit someone else's work for me right now than to write myself.
ReplyDeleteI'm too fried at night to do left brain words, so I've been being creative with my hands (beading) instead of writing. And getting up early sounds like torture.
But when I had a day job, I did as Megan suggested, and wrote during every break (and when I was supposed to working too. Bad girl!). Usually at my desk when everyone else was gone out to eat. I have a friend who writes on his BlackBerry at work. So I second trying that.
I think I need to do like JK Rowling and grab my laptop and head for a coffee house at night or something.
-k.