Perspective on Aspects

"You can't sit around and wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club."

- Jack London

I officially began the Write On to Build on Group on 01/10/12.

I wrote a POST about it on my blog.

I began my night class on 01/23/12.

It’s 22 days since we formed our group. I thought I’d give my progress.

I owe $1 to our chosen charity Build On

I’ve written 11,354 new words in my WIP and short story. 9,000 of these words are from my newly completed short story! YaY!

I edited 4 chapters of my WIP.

I’ve edited the rough draft of my short story twice.

So, yeah, I’m writing.

I’ve also been working on my writing “career”:

I’ve gutted and rebuilt my query for Naked Eye. (Thanks, Judy and Samantha! )

I’ve registered for NE-SCBWI conference in May.

I’ve entered The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest (ABNA).

I’m busy with family, school, and writing. But I will no longer let it be an excuse. Writing is one of my jobs. I’m a writer. It’s who I am. When I let it languish, a part of me languishes.

This is my new schedule:

In the mornings, I may check Facebook or blog or answer e-mail, but sometimes I write a little to. When I take my lunch, I write or edit for nearly the entire 30 minutes. If I’ve been productive with my writing for both morning and lunch, I focus on schoolwork or lighter stuff later in the day. If I haven’t, I try to write more in the late afternoon of evening.

For one day on each weekend, I must devote at least a couple of hours to writing. This will be my first weekend with homework, so this will become a challenge. But it’s in the schedule. I’m flexible about when it happens during the weekend, but it must happen.

Now that I have a brand spankin’ new query, I’d better start submitting Naked Eye again.

It just feels good to be doing something.

I’m not Super Woman (though I used to be Substitute Teacher Woman, which is a whole other post), so I’ve had to let a few things slide.

Facebook gets less attention (except for my writing groups).

Blogging time has been diminished.

I’m sleeping more; most nights I’m in by 9:30 or 10:00. Even 9:00 pm. Sometimes I lay down for fifteen minutes when I get home from work, time permitting.

My pathetic exercise routine of sit ups, pushups and leg exercises is now being enhanced with a stationary bicycle 2 days a week and yoga 1 day a week.

I’ve upped my intake of fruits and vegetables. I’ve shrunk my portions. (My wine consumption, however, remains steady.)

Whether I can keep these changes in the long term, I don’t know. I’m tired. I get cranky. I never feel like I have enough time with my kids (more because of their afterschool activities than all my stuff.) I need to make sure I take care of every part of me—

my:

career (work and school)

body (exercise and rest)

family (heart)

writing (soul)

I can make excuses that my career means I don’t have time for other important aspects of my life. Usually what happens is body and soul are cast aside. Those are big parts of me. In the past 15 months, I’ve gained 10 pounds. If I’ve made that big of a difference in my physical appearance, what does my soul resemble after not writing?

"Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise the muscles seize up."

- Jane Yolen, Merlin

What aspects of you do you let fall by the wayside?

Or how do you make sure to cultivate all aspects of you?