As July raced to the finish line, I kept one eye on the days flying off the calendar faster than I could catch them and another eye on my growing word count. My third novel was contracted via proposal, so I had my first writing on a deadline. With the help of an incredible beta reader and prayers from my writing support teams, I had this deadline in the bag. No problem. In fact, I was on track to finish early. Not weeks early, but days ahead of schedule. Until life buckled my knees. One week before my deadline, I received a call my father was very ill and was being taken by helicopter to a large hospital three hours away. He underwent major heart surgery, but he didn’t make […]
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Finding Balance with Writing and Life: Keeping it Real, Folks
In the middle of writing a heated conversation between my current hero and his dad, I realized my MBT blog post was due…several days ago. Crud. I hate being a ball-dropper because it feeds my inner critic who demotes my self-worth. Plus, not following through with something creates timeline changes for someone else. But when I’m on deadline, I seem to struggle with juggling my day job, my writing responsibilities, family, church functions, social media. When this happens, I just want to retreat and crawl back into bed. My third novel is due to my editor by the end of the month, but I need to turn it in sooner so I’m not writing while on vacation. Who wants to do that? So as I pondered a topic and whined […]
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Finding Balance With Writing & Life: Learning to Delegate
The summer after I graduated high school, I worked as a waitress at a local family restaurant that stayed open 24 hours. During a particularly busy rush after the bars closed at 2 a.m., I maneuvered through a crowded dining room, carrying a large oval tray above my head loaded with hot food. I approached the customers’ table and started serving their meals. A rowdy gentleman, who had consumed large quantities of alcohol, pushed his chair out, slamming it into my back. My knees buckled, but I struggled to keep from face planting in someone’s mashed potatoes while holding onto the heavy tray with the rest of the food. Unfortunately, the balance had shifted on the tray. To my horror, a side order of beef gravy slid and spilled down […]
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Finding Balance With Writing & Life: Getting Organized
About ten years ago, a friend introduced me to FlyLady at www.flylady.net, whose practices helped me learn how to manage and organize my household. With time, practice and patience, I managed to juggle my family, my business and other responsibilities without stressing out. When we are trying to balance family, work, life and writing, it can be a juggling act. Many times, we see others handle their responsibilities with grace and feel we’re all alone. But you’re not alone. The key to my household and business management was getting organized. The same goes with my writing. Now I’m keeping track of two demanding careers, managing my family, maintaining church responsibilities and finding time to take care of myself. I needed to designate an office space in my house. For years, […]
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