So, I just now realized it was Wednesday. Been busy with tech refreshes at work and trying to recover after letting everything slide with NaNoWriMo (which I won – woot!). I might’ve dropped a few balls. In fact, I didn’t even bother trying to catch them. And now it’s the first Wednesday of the month, meaning it’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group!
After a month of putting everything except my writing aside (okay, I still went to work), I’m struggling to reign it back in and redistribute my attention to everything else in life. You know, stuff like doing laundry, paying the bills, and scheduling kids medical appointments. It’s difficult, I tell you. I fell behind on scheduling critique group meetings, I stopped looking at my email, and I stopped blogging or visiting blogs because I didn’t want to deviate from the obsession of meeting word count. Perhaps a bit unhealthy if you ask me.
Now, I’m weaning myself off of throwing my total focus into writing my story, and the withdrawals are kicking in. My fingers itch to click onto my project instead of my critique exchange folder. I’m tempted to get a few extra words in on my story rather than doing the exercises my body sorely needs. I actually have to take the kids out and do stuff on the weekend rather than shutting the bedroom door on them. And I still haven’t paid those darn bills.
Where does my insecurity lie in all of that? Well, I’m wondering when I’ll get my life balance back.
The optional question of the month is What are five objects we’d find in your writing space? Since I don’t have a writing space, you probably would only find two things consistently… me and whatever thing I’m using to type on/with. Pretty fail answer, eh?
About Insecure Writer’s Support Group
You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.
Are you good at balancing life? Do long spurts of writing throw you off your game? Did you remember it was Wednesday?
Congrats on winning NaNoWriMo, Loni! Well done.
One thing I’ve learned after years of beating myself up and paying for expensive life coaches is this…there is no such thing as this fabled “balance.” I think it’s common for women to think we have to be awesome at ALL the things, and not only that, but to do them all at once. It’s impossible.
For a while, you were hitting the gym HARD. Now, you gave your energy and time to your writing. After NaNo, you’re feeling the need to catch up with other things. It’s impossible to give all our energy, time, and focus to a million things at once, and completely normal to put our writing aside to concentrate on our lives sometimes. Be gentle with yourself. Until they invent something that makes us tireless, unstoppable robots, the quest for balance is pretty much impossible, especially when you’re as driven and multi-talented as you. x
All you need is you and a way to record your words. Sounds like a win to me. Congrats on NaNo too.
I get the unbalance deal. Still trying to find mine. We call all sound good on paper, but I do so get the dropping the ball and not even trying to catch it.
Happy IWSG Day.
Congrats on the win and happy holidays.
Anna from elements of emaginette
I agree. Balance is only sometimes achieved. I think we spend more time trying to get there than being there. And when I finally do get all the plates spinning, I resent the energy it takes to keep them from falling. How I wish my days off could actually (at least sometimes) be days OFF.
Working writing in right now is not even possible. I’m barely getting all the other stuff done, and exercising or eating like I should isn’t even on that list.
Side note: I never understood why November was chosen to be novel-writing month. It’s the beginning of the holidays. Heck no, NaNo. September thru December is the busiest time of year for me.
Congrats on your NaNo win!
I’m struggling to get my balance/focus back after last month’s event. I feel like I was all words, all the time, and now I don’t quite know what to do with myself. I have a pile of work to do in many aspects but not much motivation/focus to get it done. It’s been so long since I’ve done NaNo, I don’t recall if this is an always thing or a new thing. Probably an always thing…
Congrats on completing another NaNoWriMo. I’m good with balancing life when I’m on a schedule, but being retired has thrown life a bit off kilter. Seems strange to me, but that’s the way it’s been.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
I hear you! The only reason I remembered about this month’s IWSG post was because I saw your twitter post. And that was in the late afternoon. Looks like I’ll be doing some catching up tonight.
And don’t forget to put that NaNo win emblem on your sidebar. You’ve earned it!
Congrats on NaNo! And yes, you will get your balance back. Just pick up those balls one at a time. No pressure! 🙂
I think you must put a positive spin on your dedication to getting those words down. Call it FOCUS, and pat yourself on the back for your accomplishment. As to answering the question…you nailed it. Clean. Simple. Very modern. I loved your answer.
That’s one thing that makes NaNo so difficult – going back to normal. It will all pan out though. Congratulations on winning.
I totally get wanting to forgo everything just to keep writing! Literally how I spend my life. And it IS hard to pull yourself away when you’re dying to fall down that rabbit hole. (Like, who gives a crap about laundry and bills?)
But congrats to you for finishing NaNo! That’s awesome and you should feel totally proud 🙂
Congrats on NaNo. Balance. That’s the tough one.
I thought this was a long week on Monday! I haven’t been able to figure out what day it was since last Thursday.
Good luck getting your balance back. That’s one reason I don’t do NaNo. Well, that and it won’t work for me. But I bet it was great getting all those words down. It’ll help in the long run.
You always make me laugh. I am right there with you. I am totally focused on typing and i can hardly stand to do anything else 🙂 Happy IWSG day Loni 🙂
There may or may not have been a few moments where I have forgotten about hanging out the laundry or to cook dinner or… uh… pick up my daughter. Maybe.
Congrats on winning Nanowrimo, though!
Congrats on the nano win!
It’s not just balance is it – you also have to juggle, stand on one foot with one eye closed and recite the alphabet backwards 😉
Or better yet, deep breaths and one step at a time…
Congrats on winning. My life is rather chaotic, so the chaos has become the balance.
Stupid bills. If only we didn’t have to work and could write full-time. Big congratulations on your win! You worked hard and you deserved it! I hope you can find your balance soon.
Elsie
Congratulations on winning NaNo! That’s wonderful. I hope you will find some sense of balance again soon. Take care, Loni!
Congrats on NaNo!
It’s so hard to change your inertia once you start building a habit, good or bad. It’s the same thing when you’re trying to start a new routine (whether writing, exercise, healthy eating, whatever) – it’s tough to break your current one. Once you’re on a roll, it’s so hard to stop.
I don’t know how realistic balance actually is. Sometimes all we can do is go through cycles and hope accept that everything has ups and downs.
It’s either drop a few balls or tons of words . I’m discovering that what I write with distractions makes little sense. Kids are screaming and internet news is blaring.
Congrats on winning the NaNo. Finding balance is always a challenge. I’m not sure it’s even achievable, except during short stretches of time, but the striving for it counts.
I did not win nano, but I got 8,000 words in at the start of the month before I burned out (I had just finished a book the month prior), and I felt pretty good about that. Congrats on your success! It’s weird how we’re so afraid of the alterations that will have to be made to our lifestyles to get to 50K in a month, but then we’re weird about getting back to our lifestyle at the end of November, too. 🙂
Good job with NaNo! I love the boost it gives, but you’re right–it’s a bit hard to go back to “normal” (especially for me, since I don’t really have a normal these days). Though I’ll admit that by about Dec. 5 I was starting to feel a little worn down, and I’ve barely looked at my MS the last 2 days.
“Balance” is a myth. And as a mom who has a day job and is trying to write, you will make yourself crazy if you try to balance it all. Let things ebb and flow. Though getting the kids to their appointments is probably important 🙂
Congratulations on Nano! 50k is a big whopping ball, that you did not drop.
Congrats on the NaNo win! I hear you about that creative/writing withdrawal….
Congrats on winning NaNo.
In a way, a single-minded focus is good in terms of extreme productivity and surprising yourself with what you can achieve, but I agree it’s not exactly healthy for overall work-life balance. Perhaps if you just set aside a certain time for writing – because NaNo is often about fitting it in wherever you can, maybe to the detriment of other things. Nothing to stop you writing some notes as ideas occur at other times. Congrats on winning!
I did NaNo for the first time last month and won it.
Congrats to your on your NaNo win!
I am having a hard time getting back to my other responsibilities. I just want to write as I did last month and not worry about anything else.
Congrats on your NaNo success!!
I’m confident that you’ll recover your life balance.
Squirrel resilience all the way! ? ? ?
Well done on winning NaNo! I signed up but didn’t get many words written. Oh well, I guess there’s always next year 🙂
Life balance can be such a tricky thing to achieve. There doesn’t seem to be a magic formula. I hope you find the life balance that works for you at this point in your life.