I woke up this morning thinking about all the things I needed to do today. Sitting down to create my daily blog post, I looked over the past few days to make sure I hadn't missed any comments...and came to a slamming halt.
What in the world happened to Saturday?
I'm on a daily posting schedule and somehow...someway...in the middle of my hectic life, I managed to get lost in time and skip an entire day. I'm not sure how I did that. Heck, I can't even remember what I did on Saturday to be honest. And that bothers me a little bit.
Ever have one of those days? When there doesn't seem to be an end to that tunnel? When your "to do" list turns into a "to don't" one simply because you've run out of time? I've always been a busy person. I am a serious multi-tasker and magnet to people who want to load up my project plate. And I let them. Because it's in my nature to help others before I help myself.
But when I find myself looking around, scratching my head, and wondering where an entire day went then it's probably time to stop and catch my breath. Writers are like that. We are driven to write and sometimes the ideas are flowing so quickly that we barely have time to write them down. One good idea turns into half a dozen and pretty soon our writing plate is loaded down with multiple works in progress. We run the risk of losing track of the time it takes to produce quality work in our efforts to do it all.
Writers can avoid the problem of getting lost in time by doing the following three things:
1. Stop...take a moment at the beginning of your day to make sure you are on the right track to accomplishing the goals you have set out for yourself. They can be challenging but don't overload your writing plate so much that everything is in danger of falling off and nothing gets done.
2. Look...keeping track of which agents or publishing houses are requesting submissions will give insight into where your writing focus should be if you work in different genres. Pay attention to "seasonal" or other themes so that the holiday picture book or summer time nonfiction one you just completed won't get lost in time and end up hidden in the slush pile.
3. Listen...make sure you fuel your mind and body with the energy it needs to keep up with all you want to do. Seek out the lessons taught by the great writers who have come before you and take from their wisdom only the things that you can apply to your own journey on the path to publication. Don't get lost in time by spending too much effort on STUDYING the craft of writing and not enough effort on the actual WRITING part!
For myself, I can't get back my lost Saturday's post and I feel like I've let myself down in my goal of posting daily for my first year in the blogosphere. But honestly, I don't have time to feel bad for too long...I've got today's goals to work on.
I wonder if it would help if I stood on my head?
