Tag: the writing life

Nuts and Bolts

(I’m writing today because I’ll be at Book Mart and Cafe in Starkville, MS for much of the day tomorrow. Wish me well!)

I’ve spent the past few days doing some nuts-and-bolts work for my writing. I’ve called four local libraries to find out how to send them information about Hurricane Baby: Stories for library adoption, consideration for their book clubs, or scheduling an author talk in the new year.

I also went through NPR’s local podcast page to see if there were any book podcasts that looked interesting. I called five of those NPR affiliates and left messages; if I don’t hear anything within a week, I’ll call again and request emails for the decision makers. Being persistent is something I’m good at.

Last night and today I’ve been updating my website with new events, links, and videos for my readers’ perusal. I want to keep the content fresh and accessible. I checked all of my links to make sure they weren’t broken and led to the correct information. Just trying to stay ahead of any problems anyone might have accessing my materials.

Yep. Unglamorous, humdrum, and ordinary tasks. But I’ll never know what sales I may get that I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t kept up with it. Such is the life of a 21st century writer.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Work Vs. Play

So here’s an eternal question for you–how to balance the day job and the creative life.

I am finding that I am too tired from the day job to write creatively during the week.

I try to reserve my weekends for family. Especially my Sundays. I try to rest during the weekend and recharge.

But if I don’t write creatively on a regular basis, my mood goes south.

I don’t quite know what to do.

I’ve been avoiding my nonfiction project for about two weeks now: I spent yesterday with Bob going Christmas shopping and usually try to reserve my Sundays for rest and church.

But I know I don’t need to go very long without working on a creative project because a week’s delay turns into two weeks, then three, then a month, then before I know it, the New Year will be here, and I will be grumpy that I didn’t accomplish much creatively.

But I also know I need to make time for what is important to me. My family is important. My day job is important to me. Rest and recharging are essential as well. But somewhere I need to find the wherewithal to write.

I need to think on this and restructure my week somehow.

Again, an eternal question. I need to remember why I found work and why my writing is important to me as well. I will solve it. I just need to think harder about it instead of just letting time slip through my fingers.