First, if you haven't had a chance to check out the Write Hope auction to benefit Save the Children in Japan, hurry up! You only have a few days left to bid! My offering, a picture book manuscript critique and query critique, is at http://write-hope.blogspot.com/2011/04/day-10-item-1.html, but there are lots and lots of great things to bid on.
Second, Blogger's hyperlinks widgety-thing is acting up this morning, so sorry about that html up there.
And third: I've been feeling a little out-of-balance lately. The writing life, the mothering life, the wife-ing life (Hey, how come "mother" turns into "mothering" but "wife" doesn't really turn into anything? 'Cause "wifing" just looks wrong.), the being "me" life... They all just seem to be taking up too much time, and I'm running out of time to sleep.
As you may know from some of my previous posts, I usually turn to scheduling to fix this: I plan each day, in terms of when I'll do housework, when I'll do my workout, when I'll write, etc. I've fallen out of my scheduling ways lately, which is probably why I've been so off-kilter, and I'm getting back to it to try to get the life/sleep scales balanced again. But I'm curious about what you do.
How do you maintain balance in your life?
I struggle with this daily. My solution is pretty much to do things by day--I write on weekends and Mondays and work at my day job Tues-Fri. I mother every day, and that comes first. But I constantly question myself about what I can take on at any given time.
ReplyDeleteIt's a lot to juggle, ain't it?
ReplyDeleteMy solution to getting everything done is to rotate projects. I'll be heavily invested in something until it's done, then I'll move onto the next thing. It's kind of how my brain works.
I think scheduling is a great idea, that way it feels like you're getting to all the important things. Bravo!
Ah, balance. It's what we strive for, but can't always find. I wish I could offer some sage advice, but... it's just one of those things that comes from the attempt, you know.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I CAN help on the html thing! If this every happens again, do the following:
1) After you've typed out the phrase you want to turn into a link, click on the little tab at the top of the blogger text entry page thing, and switch over to HTML.
2) Find the line of text to which you're wanting to add the link. Type a less-than symbol, then the following:
a href="http://www.mylink.com"
Then, type a greater-than symbol.
3)At the end of the word or phrase (when you want the text to stop being a link), type the following:
less-than symbol
/a
greater-than symbol
4) Save and switch back to the normal editing mode.
That's it! Hope that helps!
Balance is hard sometimes. I keep to a schedule like you and re-evaluate it periodically. Sometimes I do accept that I can't do everything. And that's okay.
ReplyDeleteBalance? What's that? Does it have something to do with the giant pile of laundry that's growing limbs in the other room? :D
ReplyDeleteI started complimenting my husband on his great cooking, slowly but surely we got to the part where he now cooks all our meals (you know, 'cause he's just so good at it). There's one job ticked off my list :)
ReplyDeleteAnd that's what 'other rooms' are for :)
something all writers struggle with! I find with a full time job on top of writing, it's almost impossible. When I get off kilter - I turn the computer off. It will be there when I get back on track.
ReplyDeleteI crave balance, but also am flexible for the majority of days when I don't have it.
ReplyDeleteI do have set times to write, but I let myself off the hook when life is begging for attention.
I'm terrible at maintaining balance. Mostly, I just run around like a crazy person, trying to squeeze it all in. :-)
ReplyDelete