Mommy Writes Fantasy: A Writing Blog

Weekly Update 10/7/16

+J.M.J.+

Weekly Update

Well, 'tis Friday, and I'm staring down the barrel of finishing up edits on my manuscript, drafting up some copy for the back cover and about page, and hopefully some other sorts of relaxing things to get recharged for next week! This week was my husband's fall break (he works as a substitute teacher) and so he's only been going to work in the evenings to his second job. Tonight is his closing shift so I'll be in bed before he gets home, but I plan on staying up a bit to finish up this manuscript and get everything ready for next week (and maybe organize this office that's gotten out of hand).

I have some reviews in the wings also that need finishing, so I might work on some of those tonight if I have some time! And then tomorrow night, I want to start looking over my outlines for NaNo to see if anything needs to be worked on before November.

I think my new writing schedule will really help things out, especially since my portion of the income has been able to go down considerably. I'm restricting myself to freelance work ONLY in the evenings, and using my mornings and afternoons during the school year ONLY for writing (and perhaps a couple loads of laundry lol). This is because I used to try to freelance some in the morning (because I wanted to just get it over with) and ended up wasting my whole morning just looking for jobs that weren't going to come in until later anyway. It divided my focus, made me waste precious writing time hitting 'refresh', and made me become more and more frustrated with the lack of work until I just didn’t have the drive to do much of anything.

With the new schedule, I HAVE to focus on writing things at the beginning of the day to ensure that they get done. Each week, I'll come up with a list of things I'd like to get done writing-wise, and I'll see where I can fit them in each morning. This way I should get a solid 5 to 6 hours of focused, quality writing work in before I ever start my freelance "work" day. It also takes advantage of the time when I'm naturally most productive and creative, instead of relegating it to later at night when I'm already exhausted from getting up at 5:45 with my husband and just wanting to do something mindless and entertaining.

Enter another resolution: I need to read more. Ever since leaving high school, my fun reading has been on a downward spiral. I have plenty of books to read--I just need to take the time to sit and read them. What better time than after my freelance work is done and I have a couple hours left until bedtime? I can relax with a cup of tea at the end of a productive day and read guilt-free, knowing my writing work was accomplished already. It'll be a nice reward to look forward to after the day’s work is done, and something to help wind me down to sleep so my husband and I can get into bed at a decent time. So I’m looking forward to that as well. Especially on Fridays, since Hubby doesn’t come home until 2 AM or later, I have PLENTY of time to dig into a good book (and maybe even finish it) before he comes home.

All that to say that things are looking both busier and freer than they have in a while. I suppose being able to give more time to writing is what’s giving me this sense of freedom. I’m no longer tied down to a high weekly quota for freelancing, and I have designated times of the day to work on it, so I don’t have to feel guilty about leaving it for the end of the day anymore. I’m really looking forward to this new phase in my life (for as long as it lasts) and I’m grateful to have the support of my hard-working, hilarious and creative husband through all of it. We’ve made a lot of changes and sacrifices to get our situation to where it is now, with me working from home and not having to contribute very much to the family pot, and this was a desire on both of our parts. We’re grateful to God for giving us the means to be able to do this, and I intend on taking advantage of every spare moment to give my writing and my service and love of the craft to the world.

What do you do to stay creative and refill your writing tank after a long day/week? How do you unwind creatively? Let me know in the comments; I’d love to hear your stories!



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