Being a mother is tiring, quite often thankless, and generally hectic. I’ve discovered that the extent of these things knows no bounds.
As much as I love her, I refuse to let my gorgeous infant dictate what I can and can’t do. You guessed it, I mean writing wise.
And that’s just it. Time.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a Tardis sitting around gathering dust in my basement, backyard or otherwise accesible area. So that whole wibbly wobbly timey wimey thing? Yeah – not so much a thing for me.
I have none of it.
So, you might ask, how do you make time where you already have a negative amount? Why, thank you for asking, I say. You find it in those precious few hours of sleep you manage to wrangle at night. You know, around this time.
This is my solution. When baby is 100% asleep, and I mean deeeeeep sleep, I sneak through the house to my study and tackle edits (hopefully writing in the future as well) for an hour or two. For as long as my sleep deprived brain is able to fend off the inevitable.
I’m a firm believer of no excuses. I hate making excuses. Far too many people I know make excuses. When I look back on my life, I don’t want to say: I didn’t write because I didn’t have time. That’s bullshit.
This is me choosing to work for my goal. Head down, butt up, fingers flying. I will write, because it hurts when I don’t. Seriously, head explody type hurt. None of this – but I don’t have time, but I’m too tired, but things came up.
Every single night for the last month I have worked on my book. First the paper edit and now on the home stretch of my second draft. The more I work, the less I sleep (and nap with the baby for 40 mins in the afternoon), the more I realize that the only person standing in the way of what I want to achieve, is myself. Don’t forget – I work (dayjob) from home too.
No blaming the baby, work, the housework or my sad and definite lack of a Tardis. It’s all me baby. My choices. My dreams. My drive.
There’s no two ways about it. If you choose to make time, you will find it. If you don’t, did you ever really want it enough?
Because. Tardis. Not mine. Linked to source.
So, now that I’ve ranted a bit, I’ll move onto my update.
My May 2013 goals
1. Finish AI transcription – 2/3 of the way through this
2. Send AI to betas – in about 10 days
3. Visit #writemotivation blogs – kept up with this last week. Will start on this again tomorrow.
4. Maintain activity in social media – I think I’m being successful?
5. Read a book – yeah, not quite, though I bought yet another… does that count?
6. Complete May OurWriteMind prompt – just need to polish this and schedule the post!!!
7. Love mah baby girl – well this is really ongoing and a given, right?
There we go. I hope everyone is having a fantastic month so far. Lots of luck to my friends who I know have requests they’ve sent out (*cough* Andrew and Rebekah *cough*)
Also – in other news, I may be changing my blog layout very shortly. Contemplating blogger over wordpress. Thoughts?
I’m kind of envious of you being able to make yourself write as opposed to sleep. I get tired and I get really cranky and all creativity halts. But maybe it’s because I’ve never been truly forced to have to between writing and sleep. I’m not sure and I don’t really want to find out.
Good luck with your goals. (I totally forgot about #writemotivation and my goals. ^^;;)
Well, I don’t have a choice right now. Wait, I do, but if I choose to get my 6+ hours a night, there is nowhere for me to slot serious writing.
So, for the next 6-12 months, this is my choice. And I choose it because I need to, for myself and for what I love to do 😀
I also love my little girl too much to take time from her during the day when she still really needs me. So, I do what I have to.
And right now, instead of saying OMG NO TIME TO WRITE – I’m just going to say – damn it, only time to sleep 4ish hours a night.
Also – the Monday isn’t hard and fast love – it’s just a general guideline <3
It’s been my #1 New Year’s goal this year to tackle my time management/discipline. Even if I have ten minutes before I have to run out the door, those are ten minutes I could write/edit, or ten minutes I could faff with Pinterest or whatever. I honestly think the internet is the biggest blessing and curse of our time! I’m amazed by how much you do and you constantly inspire me!
I’m so proud of you, and a little envious. I’ve been managing writing, in one form or another every day, even if it isn’t on a story and just my journal. It’s definitely something that needs to be kept going. Yes, I probably do make excuses, but I find they are legitimate. BUT, and this is a HUGE but (not unlike my behind LOL) I AM making progress. I am NOT giving up. So, I think I’m doing good. 🙂
<3 you and am so happy you've gotten a little schedule going. 🙂
Jai
*hugs* there are times we just have to sit down and DO things, no matter how tired we are, and trust that our bodies will let us know when we absolutely can’t go any further. I’ve been there many times in the past several months.
And thanks for the shout-out!
Re blogger vs. wordpress: I personally like working on wordpress better, but I know there are reasons people choose blogger over it. I would just say – please, please, please don’t put captcha on your comments >_<. That's my #1 pet peeve with people who use blogger.
You’re doing the best you can when there’s an infant around. When Colin, my youngest, was a baby and I was writing in NaNo, the only time I could do any writing was when he was asleep and his daddy would switch off doing the household chores. Now, years later, can find the time much easier and both have given so much inspiration with ongoing stories I’m editing or coming up with something new.
We moms can do it and live off so very little gratitude and sleep for our young. 🙂
hooray you for making the time for your writing! you are a true writer. you have to carve out that time for it or it will never happen. i totally agree. me? i avoid cleaning like the plague to get my writing done. it’s a win-win scenario. as for new blogsite, i vote wordpress, since i’m on it, and since it’s so much easier to leave comments on wordpress sites, etc., but ultimately it’s up to you. i’ll still follow you no matter where you land.
I love this: “If you choose to make time, you will find it. If you don’t, did you ever really want it enough?”
I’m learning this more and more, and I have far fewer potential excuses than you could use.