I think about quitting. I think about giving up blogging altogether.
I also think about deleting my facebook account, but I can't bring myself to actually do it. I enjoy the attention too much.
Something has to give. I can't do it all, as much as I would like to.
I think about not exercising at all in order to get more writing done. But my vanity won't let me stop jogging or lifting weights, difficult as it is to get myself to work out, sometimes (thank God for caffeine and creatine monohydrate).
I miss performing. "What if I went back to waiting tables and auditioning?" I ask Domestic Partner.
"No," he says, the Perpetual Voice of Reason. "You need regular income."
He's right. I've got too many bills and not enough years ahead of me to save up for retirement. So, I can't give up the full time working thang, not yet.
But it's something I think about.
How do you make time to write? What have you sacrificed in order to get more writing accomplished?
And has it been worth it?
7 comments:
I love your writing, Peter. I hope you don't give it up, but completely understand if you do. It's so tough to make the time to write something well.
Hugs!
Kari
No, I won't let you off that easy. You don't "find" time to write. You "make" time. If it's important to you. That's the big question.
I've had to expand my concept of writing in order to feel better. If I go running and I end up doing some plotting in my head, that's writing. Don't beat yourself up. Write whenever you can, even if it's one sentence.
Hi Pete.
I understand the dilemma. Here's what I do.
I block out a couple hours a week for writing. Generally it's late night on weekends. For some reason that's when my creativity seemes to peak.
But I'm jotting down ideas constantly. Right now I have about four posts written and have set them for future release. That way, if I can't make the time over the weekend, there's no blog-lag. I also have about a dozen "ideas to develop" written down in my notebook.
I'm very fortunate in that I can usually knock out a post in an hour or so. That's a rough draft, of course. Since I have posts "in the pipeline", though, the new one gets to stew for awhile, and I keep going back to it making revisions. By the time that post is set for publication, I've gotten it to its final form.
Dude, keep at it.
That said, I have to tell you that I was glad to find out that your post "I Love Rice Balls" wasn't about some kind of gay Asian porn.
i sacrifice my writing to get other things done, and i hate myself for it.
i find i dont force myself to write but as a few days go by, make myself sit with a cup of tea and crank something out, even if it's bad. (and I dont publish it). Facebook sits there unattended for me often enough, there is too much other stuff that is productive to be doing sometimes. So go easy on yourself and just enjoy what you get from it, when you get it or take part in it!
I give up little pieces of various things: sleep, career (I work full time, but if I were more dedicated to my so-called career, I'd probably be making more money by now), going out as much as my girlfriend would like to, making my house cute.
None of the above is tragic--overall I feel lucky to have a life that accommodates writing as well as mine does. But when I'm extra short on writing time, I remind myself that life is seasonal: There are times when you write up a storm, and there are times when the field is fallow. Make time when you can, but like Noel said, don't beat yourself up when you can't.
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