March 26, 2009
When will I get my act together? When will I learn to make the most of my time, ensuring I give the necessary weight each week to writing my new novel, marketing my existing ones, taking care of writing-related financials, and reading to keep learning and tuning my creative machine? Beats me. I’m nowhere near that point now, that’s for sure. Most days, it’s a challenge just to do the actual novel writing. It seems to be impossible for me to squeeze in anything else other than my day job, various home-related chores, and a little time with my wife. And that’s with not having any kids! What bothers me most is that I know other people have done what I’m trying to do and more, all while raising families. What’s the secret?
The truth is, I’ve known since I starting trying seriously to succeed as a professional writer, back in 2003, that I have time management problems. I’ve tried repeatedly to remedy them, but nothing seems to stick. And frankly, I don’t want to tamper too much with the way I work, for fear of bunging up my writing process. And that process is really at the heart of everything I do and want to do in the future. So how do I figure a better way to manage my time? One thing’s for sure: time management is one of the things I plan to talk about with my mentors when I visit them in Oregon for the big workshop in May. Pretty sure Dean and Kris will have lots of good ideas to offer. Maybe I can beat this bugaboo once and for all.
Now for today’s travel photo. This one is a shot of Wendy and me along the Ohio River near Maysville, Kentucky in August 2004. We took my father-in-law there for a Civil War “living history” weekend in Maysville and the nearby historic town of Washington. What a beautiful area! See you tomorrow!
Maysville, Kentucky, 2004
