Full steam ahead, or scale back??

The holidays are always a busy time of year. If you guys are like me, the weekends are jam-packed with parties and holiday merriment. It's such a fun time and we always make so many memories. In my opinion, life is meant to be enjoyed, and I will take advantage of every opportunity I can :)

But sometimes it is tough to find time for everything.

Last week I wrote Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. But then Turkey Day hit and it was just so hard to find time for myself. Now I stare down this week. My kids are off Thursday and Friday for parent teacher conferences. I always struggle to write when they are home. But on top of that, we're hosting an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party on Saturday. I have a ton to do this week.

So it makes me wonder what others do this time of year. Do you charge forward, full steam ahead? Or do you scale back and set a slower pace?

If I had a job outside of my home, I'd still have to go every day despite what I had going on in my personal life. I think many writers, including myself, treat their writing like a job outside the home and set specific hours for it. But since I do not work a traditional job, I enjoy the perk of making my own hours and taking a day off (or a week) when I need to. I've often heard the statement- "Real writers write every day." I consider myself a "real" writer even though I don't write every day. I have a family and a life. I adore writing, but everyone needs days off.

This week I definitely have to scale back, considerably. For the rest of December, I will still be moving forward, but I will not hesitate to take days off when I need. Cause I know come January, when the holidays and hoopla are over, I can get back on my horse. I have a very good work ethic and can pump out over 50K in a month when I set my mind to it. So I don't see anything wrong with taking it slow for a month :)

Clearing My Head

Sometimes there is so much going on in my brain, or sometimes nothing, which is not good when I need it to have something. During those time I just need to clear my head.

As a writer, I'm often faced with a blank page...that blinking cursor. And there are times it's fantastic. That cursor moves like you wouldn't believe. I make so many typing mistakes because my fingers are moving so fast getting the story out of my head before it disappears, lost in the sea of things floating around in there.

But there are those other times where the blinking cursor is a curse. I don't know what to do next. I don't know where I need to take my characters. Sometimes it's during the creating phase. I have reformed and am now a plotter, but even though I have the entire book planned, it's sometimes difficult to bridge together the scenes I've thought up. Or during the editing phase, when I know I need to fix something, but the solution is just not coming to me.

I need a brain break. And it's not uncommon for me to take several in a day's time. Just short little vacations where my brain can rest and do absolutely nothing worthwhile. And yes...my brain takes it's vacations in Twitterland, Facebookville, and Pinterest City.

I know many people consider these social media sites a complete waste of time. I don't, for many reasons, but I won't go into them all today. Today I am focusing on the break they give my brain. I can go on Twitter and have a laugh, see what my writer buddies are doing, promo myself, help promo a friend. I only stay a minute or two. Then I hop over to Facebook, see what my family and friends are up to today. Stay there a couple minutes. Then maybe some Pinterest for yummy meal ideas or crafts.

My brain takes maybe a 5 minute break and is ready to get back at it. Stepping away form my work, even for a few minutes, can often give me new perspective. It really helps!

Do you take mini breaks while you're writing, or doing whatever job you do? Does it help clear your mind and make you more productive? What do you do on your mini breaks?

Sometimes life can be so bittersweet.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds myself in situations where I'm both happy and sad at the same time.

Take today for example. There are many opportunities for my hubby to work overtime at his job. And there are usually times there are so many other guys that want it, there is a list and you are offered overtime based on when the last day you worked OT was. Someone who worked more recently gets put toward the end of the list. Hubby usually doesn't know if he will get it `til maybe an hour or so before he has to go in- guys have up `til an our before the shift starts to call in sick, so that greatly effects the amount of overtime available. Hubby is on the list today for the 3-11 shift.

It's going on 1 and he has not gotten a call yet. They need to call him by 2 if they want him there on time.

I want him to get called- 8 hours of time and a half is VERY nice. But I so want a nice night with my family and husband. I have a movie we need to watch cause we need to return it. And I don't want to watch it alone.

We win and lose no matter what happens.

Do you ever find yourself in those situations???

I so don't need this right now.

Okay...the countdown is on. This time on Friday, I'll be on my way to Allentown, PA for The Write Stuff Writer's Conference. I'll be excited beyond belief, but so so nervous too!

But right now....I have an unbelievable amount of work to do and I'm not sure I can do it all in time.

Yesterday was a lazy Sunday....we laid around all day and I expected to get some decent time to work. Nope. Let's just say a dramatic evening the night before left my brain swirling with far too many other things. I could not concentrate at all. And I tried...I really tried. I got some work done but finally gave up when I realized my brain was somewhere else and being held hostage.

So...here I am...with less than 4 days to prepare myself. I will work on editing my novel and perfecting my synopsis. I will try to work on my pitch and all that...but I'm wondering if any of the preparation will really prepare me for that 10 minute pitch session anyway. I'm sure I'll babble and say "um" at least once every ten seconds.

But on a happy note, Dancing with the Stars starts tonight and I am oh so excited! I plan on working as much as possible then tuning in to watch the show!

Why can't I survive on like 2 hours of sleep???

Life would be so much easier.

I struggle every day with the things I do, the things I should be doing, the things I wish I could do, and the things I need to do.

I try to keep a clean home but in all honesty, there are things that definitely come before making sure the dishes are washed. I try to use my mornings for cleaning, doing other things around the house, exercising. My son roams around and plays...I play with him too. After lunch he naps and that is my time. The house could be a disaster pit and I do not care. I plop down with my laptop and check on everything that's going on in the world and then write or edit or whatever else I need to do with my writing that day. My daughter then comes home from school- we work on homework and I get dinner ready. We eat dinner as a family and then, depending on the night, there's baths, dance class, writers meetings, etc... We try to fit in family time as much as we can too.

But most nights I sit here and wonder where the heck the day went and I feel like I didn't give enough time to any one thing that day. The house is never clean enough, I never get to do as much writing or editing as I want and I feel like I spent hardly any quality time with my kids and husband. And if I do spend more time on any one of these things, I feel horrible that the others were pushed to the side that day.

I know I'm not the only woman in the world that struggles with balancing work, home life and household chores. Is there some magical solution out there???? Some fancy pill I can take that would let me sleep for two hours and be refreshed like I had slept for 10? I've just now decided that if I could have any super power, it would be to never need sleep!

I want to work!!!!

I find it really interesting when I hear friends, family members, even my own husband, say how they like their job, even love it, but they can't wait to get home to spend time with their families or do other things...basically they can't wait to be away from work each day and weekends are their paradise. And while I love my family immensely, I have many many days where I wish so badly I could go and do the work that I love. To me it doesn't feel like "work". Cleaning my house is work....doing laundry, cooking dinner, doing yard work...that is my definition of work. Writing....it's my nirvana. I start and I don't want to stop. I get so involved in my imaginary world that I hate pulling myself away from what I am creating. I want to continue..I want to see where my characters go. I want to create their problems and solve them. I want to create sexual tension and then relieve it (that's the best part!!) I want to create something that is all me.