Where Are Your Priorities?

You're busy. I get it. I'm busy, too.

In fact, I've spent the last five years of my life busy. First it was balancing school and retail, and if it means I'm going to save $5k+ in tuition, sure, I'll take twice the average load of classes to be done earlier. Then it was balancing grad school and retail, which, trust me is harder, even if my credits were half of the previous semester. Then it was balancing grad school, retail, and teaching. (Are you starting to see a pattern?) Then it was balancing grad school and teaching, and last year it was balancing teaching, teaching, and teaching. Oh, and writing in there somewhere. Duh.

So when students tell me that I don't understand how busy they are, I try not to "HAH!" in their faces. Instead, I turn it around. Priorities, I tell them. Priorities are the only way things ever get done.

Don't get me wrong: I don't have it all together. But I can tell you from a five-year series of trial-and-error that the only way your writing gets done is if you prioritize.

Biggest writing misconception ever: I'm going to sit down at my writing desk for hours and from mere inspiration divine a brilliant manuscript of my own making. With days of this, of course my novel will be finished within the year, and my good luck and success can only be marked with a book deal. I'm so prolific that I can do this every day forever.

("HAH!")

Biggest reality check ever: You need a comfortable space that won't distract you with what you've put in that space. You also need to write on a medium-to-full stomach and have plenty of water/coffee/tea available. If any one of these simple things is out of balance, you will do what most writers do and end up looking out the window or scanning Facebook. (Confession: where do you think this post is stemming from?)

Biggest help for the writing life: My first mentor in grad school gave all of us a daily schedule of her writing life. I can't find it right now (shut up) but what impressed me the most was that she started with an hour of reading (coffee in hand, of course), then an hour of her own writing, then an hour of revising what she had written in past days, and then dove into grading. Then she'd have lunch and do the same thing again. While her schedule may vary depending on the needs of the day, this was the overall schedule she stuck to. There was no marathon writing, but there was no procrastination, either. Sometimes we are so manic: we like to write when we're passionately inspired, but that all-consuming fire quickly burns and we're left with either no ideas or no inspiration.

Write even when you think the fire has burned out. Only then you'll find yourself to be a true writer. Push past it and you'll find a reward akin to working at a truly meaningful relationship.

So what, dear writer, am I encouraging you to do today? Pick a schedule, pick priorities, and pepper your day with a few small activities. If you don't have time to devote an hour per activity, devote 15 minutes per activity. Something daily is better than something manic.