Sorry.
I know a good blogger keeps her readers entertained with regular updates. Unfortunately, I cycle through periods of productivity and before I know it, almost a year has passed before I've supplied you with any useful tips or clever quips.
However, for 2018, I am trying a new strategy. I am going to do my best to balance my online appearance with my day job, my manic writing periods and my life as a mom. I can't promise that I will do a good job at this, but this will be a beautiful art that involves balancing regulated periods of slacking off with being productive.
So, wish me luck. ^_^
And now, let's talk about some ways I plan to accomplish my New Year's resolution. And don't worry, I will be sure to post about what worked for me and what didn't.
Step 1
Set fewer and less strict deadlines.
Deadlines are important. They give you goals to meet and help you put pressure on yourself to be productive. However, when you set unrealistic expectations for yourself, the end result is that you either produce nothing or what you do end up with isn't worth the ink it's written with.
Step 2
Finish the projects already in progress before starting new ones.
I know, this seems very obvious, but it is definitely something many writers struggle with. For me, it's a blessing and a curse to have thousands of ideas rushing into my mind on a daily basis. While I have a never ending supply of inspiration, I find it hard sometimes to folloe through on any one project before starting a new one. And before I know it, my writing room looks like my goodreads page.."currently writing 15".
So, I have given up on trying to write them all at once and put them on a waitlist. The idea is to work my way through the list and tackle the projects in the order they were conceived.
Step 3
Read more
This is important. Sometimes I am too much in my own head and need to see how someone else thinks. Sometimes, I just neee a break from myself and my reality. And other times, I'm looking for inspiration. This is not to say that I'm stealing ideas. What I mean is that whenever I get discouraged and feel like giving up writing forever, reading an amazing book gives me that burst of competitive fire I need to keep going and finish my draft.
Step 4
Limit streaming TV binge
Again, this seems pretty obvious. But thanks to Hulu and Netflix, laziness has become harder to avoid. I think I will need to start giving myself set daily limits. How many total hours I get are TBD.
But as you can see, writing is never easy. I have periodic slumps and times when I can't sleep from idea overload. I get distracted by my family and fall down the facebook rabbit hole from time to time. But 2018 and the future will hopefully be met with better time management. We'll see.
That's all for now. Happy New Year and as always...Happy Reading.
