Far from routine

May 28, 2008



I realized today as I cooked eggs at 9:50AM, that I am still forming my routine.

As writers, we often have a free-form approach to our lives. If a person can’t do an interview until 8:30 and he insists on speaking with you at the local pub, so be it.

We adjust our lives to fit our assignments. But what happens when we land projects that require a little more ‘regular’ facetime?

An example might be a non-fiction book that has to be researched during the daylight. Or a photo-essay that requires early morning and late afternoon light. Or the myriad other tidbits that dictate our movements by their restrictions.

This makes the planned schedule of 7:30 into the shower; 7:55 boil the eggs and water for tea; 8:05 dine and slurp; and 8:15 into the writing chair, a bit of a challenge.

Today I did busy work for two hours before I realized the time. I wrote a Bowl of Cheese entry, followed up on a bunch of article queries, and connected with my Twitter compatriots long before the egg boiling commenced.

Part of the time shift today has to do with some more research for the scooter article, a Dr.’s appointment in the afternoon and an early AM meeting tomorrow.

Essentially, writers need to be flexible and we also need to know how to evaluate the beneficial opportunities from the time-wasters. That’s one of the major challenges I’ve had to face and solve during this sabbatical. But it’s coming along well and I think I’ve got a fairly good balance going.

Please share in the comments how you’ve balanced your ‘real’ work with your futzing around activity and how you got to a place that’s productive and positive in your writing world.

Keep reading!