Last week I talked about finding the time to fit writing into my day and balancing it with the rest of my life. But what happens when something comes up that threatens my routine. Maybe on a day I’ve set for myself to write 4 pages, I’ve got work all day, and then plans with friends, or a family function. How do I balance my writing goals with the rest of my life obligations?
Simple. I rearrange my writing to fit my life.
My daily writing goals are just that. Goals. There’s nothing set in stone that says I have to write four pages on a day that’s already loaded with something else. It’s just a benchmark I give myself to keep myself productive and so I don’t lose momentum with my storytelling. If I see that one of my longer writing days lands on a day already jam packed with something else, I look at the days surrounding it to see what my schedule looks like then. If my next day is relatively empty, I write the four pages on that day, and try to fit in the one page on my hectic day.
I do my best to accommodate the rest of my life while I’m hunkering down and crafting a story. If I’m still on my pace to write ten pages in four days, I don’t lose sleep over it if I have to juggle my writing schedule a bit to get there.
And in instances where I come up a little short…I don’t lose sleep there either. I take a look at the big picture, and focus on the positives. If after writing 50 pages in 20 days, if I only write 6 in the next 4 because life threw a lot at me for a couple days, I’m not going to be distraught about it. I’m going to look at the fact that I still have 50 something more pages written then I did 3 weeks ago, and I’ve still got some time to go in my first month of writing a new story. I’m still going to be proud of what I’ve accomplished so far, and that usually sustains my momentum to want to keep going and see it through to the end. I don’t dwell on minor setbacks if the overall process has been enjoyable.
That’s why writers write. It’s enjoyable.