January Is A Beast

Writing is a funny profession. You can go months with nary a whisper of anything happening, and then all of the sudden about 10 things are dumped in your lap at once. I'm not complaining about this, it just seems to be the nature of the job.

January has been one of those months for me. On the writing front alone, I've had two books to edit, two proposals for my option to prepare, a new blog to launch, and that whole crazy reading challenge I got myself into. Throw in school troubles for Dino Boy, a particularly naughty Ninja Girl streak, and typical pregnancy fatigue, and wow, I'm still trying to figure out how I made it through the last two weeks.

But at least I've been making progress! I finished edits on SIDEKICK last week, so now I only face the behemoth that is TRANSPARENT. It's weird, how small edits can take so long to enter. I mean, we are to the point that it's a cut there, a word change there, but you have to consider each one and it takes up a lot of time. Other Life Things have to be shifted around for a little bit while this work stares me in the face (Like giving up Korean Dramas. *sniff*).

I think that's why it gets harder and harder for me to answer the question, "How do you find balance?" Honestly? I don't. The best I can do is prioritize what needs to get done and do it in a timely fashion. I'm not sure writing has ever been much about "balance." It's more like triage—you do what's most pressing first and work down the line, hoping you didn't miss something vital along the way.

The one thing that has changed for me throughout the years, though: I no longer see writing tasks as The Most Important Thing Always. It used to come first over all aspects of my life, and that really messed me up. I still get my work done, but now I have the right perspective. I can see that sometimes it's more important to get my kids out of the house. Or it's more important to make a nice meal for my husband to take to work. Or it's more important to be there for a friend.

So while January has been a crazy whirlwind this far, I'm managing just fine. I'm happy I can say this, because I think a month like this would have ripped me to shreds a couple years back.