Another Monday is upon us! Writers don't have a lot of reason to lament the Moon Day*, because there's no such thing as a weekend from writing. Every day is a writing day. Although I sort of did take a weekend from writing. The novel is beginning to take shape faster than I expected, and it has meant that I have to adjust the sails a little to keep writing it. I'm well behind on my word count goals, but the story itself is fleshing out nicely in my head. The weekend was spent shifting from being a Pantser to a Plotter, and I have been getting my proverbial ducks in a row. With this week, my intention is to get these ideas down on paper, get the time line solidified, and start getting specific scenes down on index cards. I have no doubt that, once I have all of that wrangled, the words will flow smoothly and I'll catch up in no time. (<<<Positive thinking!)
I wasn't in my head for the whole weekend, though. I did manage to finish the rough draft of Forgotten God, my story about Osiris. It's obvious to me that it was written in two different sessions, and I can easily pick out where I stopped on the first day and started again on the second. The quality of the writing shifts dramatically, and not for the better. The important part was that I got it all out. I read a quote that said writing a first draft is akin to shoveling sand into a bucket with the intention of using it to build a sand castle later. That idea of shoveling sand is going to get me through some rough times.
My new schedule goes into effect today. In order to juggle writing, school, family, fitness, housework, and a social life, I needed to overhaul my summer schedule to make room for everything in the day. My schedule is definitely packed, with writing happening early in the morning, school happening mid-morning, housework and fitness happening in the afternoon, and social life being squished into one hour every day. That is, all emails, non-essential texts, blog reading, networking, Instagramming, everything that has to do with people now happens between 3 and 4 in the afternoon. The evening is reserved for family time.
I recently had a conversation with my friend-of-indeterminate-magnitude, Heather, about whether or not people can "have it all." I was emphatic that, no, we cannot have it all. There simply isn't enough time in the day to do and be everything we want. However, we can do a lot if we use our time wisely. My days are busy for the foreseeable future because I'm willing to put in the work to get where I want to be. I'm clear on my goals, and I'm willing to fight to protect them from my own self-sabotage. But in order to do this, I have to be tough on myself, and disciplined. And really, really organized.
*Not to be confused with THEE Moon Day, which is July 20th.
