Seasons are Changing

Fall is in the air. The nights here at 8000’ are dipping below freezing. Two days ago, it snowed. For whatever reason, the fall-winter transition is when I take stock of the last year and ask myself how my life has gone. Did I like the results of my efforts? Or do I need to fine tune things a bit. I used to make lists, but that has a downside since they provide a visual reminder of what I have yet to accomplish. Rather than lists, my current strategy is overall concepts. I can make progress without feeling bad that I’m not doing more.

Despite the fact my first short story was published at the front end of 2009 and my first novel in February 2011 (by a small press), my writing career didn’t really take off until the end of 2012. The years since have been a wild ride. Between writing, editing, and marketing, it’s truly felt as if my life isn’t my own anymore. At least when I had a day job, it had parameters. By that, I mean I showed up at 8, went home at 5, and only had to field the occasional emergency call off hours.

One of the big problems with being self-employed, and I remember this fairly well from the years I had a large private psychology practice, is you can work 24/7. I can’t tell you how many times I’d be sitting across from a patient in my office at nine o’clock at night at the tail end of a day that had begun at six that morning. No one to blame but myself since I set my own schedule. I tried my damnedest, but I’m not certain the late night patient got as much from me as those scheduled earlier in the day.

I set my own schedule as a writer too, or I try to. I have a friend who limits her social media time to five hours a week. She sets a clock and does SM in five one-hour increments. That sounded like a good idea, but when I tried to adopt it, it was tough to stick to. Writing is another story. Particularly when I got rights back to all my trad published books and turned them around to release myself. There were lots of them. Twelve with one publisher and six with another, plus seven I’d already re-released. It was quite satisfying to delve back into my earlier stories and make them shine. Between that and writing new material, I often found myself on the computer until midnight. The trad pubbed books are long since complete and out in the world, but it didn’t seem to free up much time.

Pro tip: There never is enough time, and prioritizing life over work is a learned skill.

Just like there was more to life than psychology, there’s also more to life than writing. My husband is a patient man, but it’s not fair to him if I’m hunched over a keyboard twenty hours a day. My fond hope is if I change a couple of small things, my writing life will feel friendlier, less like a cruel taskmistress.

What about the rest of you out there. How do you manage to blend everything in and still have some quality of life for yourself and your families? I’d really like to know.