Time has always been my enemy. This battle started in high school. In my sophomore year, I realized there wouldn't be enough time for me to get in all the classes I wanted to take. I went to my counselor and asked if I could take seventh hour in addition to my regular day. Seventh hour was for those students who had a job and needed time out of their school day. She refused me. No one did that. I was a teenager and needed my leisure time too. I had plenty of leisure time, but she didn't believe me.
I have a feeling most authors feel this time thing too. Not enough hours in the day. Authors and readers...how do you cope?
Brenda
and her husband are gypsies at heart having lived in six states and two
countries. Currently, they split their time between the pines of Northern
Arizona, the desert of Southern Arizona, and the RV life. Wherever she roams,
she spends most of her time writing stories of discovery, suspense, and the
tangled relationships of life.
Visit
Brenda at www.brendawhiteside.com
Or
on FaceBook: www.facebook.com/BrendaWhitesideAuthor
She
blogs on the 9th and 24th of every month at http://rosesofprose.blogspot.com
She
blogs about life’s latest adventure on her personal blog http://brendawhiteside.blogspot.com/
Amazon
Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003V15WF8
Goodreads
Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3972045.Brenda_Whiteside
12 comments:
Stunning photos, Brenda! I'm glad you're getting to relax a bit...even if it's "forced"! And I'm impressed how neat your handwriting is in your notebook! Mine is barely legible scribbles. (Maybe that's part of my problem! LOL!)
I'm with you, Brenda. One lifetime is not nearly enough. My tombstone will read: She Wasn't Finished! I've learned a lesson from golf about life: Only consider the next stroke. In other words, forget about the last stroke; don't think about future strokes; definitely don't think about your accumulated score...just consider (refine) the next hit. So I try to do that with my writing, my social life, my golf, my travels. Think about what I'm doing right now, and make it satisfactory (including this comment :-). This philosophy helps a little, but I still look at obituaries and note the age that person died. And think... Oops! The next stroke. Think only about the next stroke.
Leah, I hate to get up, look at my calendar and can't read what I was supposed to do. Drives me crazy! LOL
Rolynn, I like that tombstone. Sounds appropriate. And I love the in the moment philosophy. I miss golf. Frank and I golfed weekly for the first several years of our life. I guess for him there are not enough days in life to do the sports things he loves. I kind of wish he'd stuck with golf. At least it's more active. LOL
Your lake is beautiful! I don't relax, either, and I'm the queen of multitasking. I consider it a personal triumph that I actually get paid to write. Sure, they're really paying me to check boaters in at the ramp all summer and people into the rec center during the winter, but the majority of my time at my jobs is spent writing. When my husband suggests a higher paying job where I actually have to use my brain, I tell him he's lost his. I've found someone to pay me to write, and that was quite an accomplishment! When I'm home, I'm always doing at least two things at once. There really aren't enough hours in the day.
I don't set goals. They create stress. I hope I'm done with deadlines at least for awhile. I do what I need to do to stay happy which means I write everyday. Do a bit of promo everyday. Answer emails. But mainly, I write and rewrite and fiddle with the rewrites...and change one final word for something stronger. How do I relax? Calvin and I go to a matinee or we make an afternoon "snuggle date"...'nuff said there.
After four years of official retirement, I've finally managed to learn how to relax, maybe too well. lol Many days I can't say I've accomplished much, but I always try to accomplish something! The biggest change for me has been living surrounded by such astounding natural beauty. Just looking out the window or standing on the deck puts everything else in life in perspective.
What is it about us that we only relax when forced to? Life does tend to get away from you. So many stories to tell, so little time. You'd think my recent health scare would have done more to slow me down. It seemed to have the opposite effect, although I do try to enjoy each day, one day at a time. Beautiful pictures. So calming.
Just give me a few more hours in the day... then I might go fishing, too ;-) Not. I'd be writing.
Keep that job, Jannine. Perfect.
I don't like writing goals either, Vonnie, but this time around it's helping relieve the stress and keeping me from feeling guilty. After this book, I'm going to rethink just what and how I'm running the rest of my life.
Nature is a great way to "waste" time, Alison.
Thanks, Margo.
Andrea, I am making a great sacrifice in skipping my writing time once a week to fish with FDW. LOL
My attitudes toward deadlines is if I make I make it. If not, oh well. I'd rather play with the grandkiddies. We made it to Mesa yesterday and Toddler Girl remembered us. So thrilled. I do have one deadline I have to make. My finished ms for Meddling Mama has to be up by Thursday or Amazon will use the big hammer. Can't very well say "oh, well" to that.
Love time with the granddaughter, so I totally understand, Diane. Good luck with the deadline.
Lovely photos! How do I cope? I don't...yikes! I'm always behind on everything. Your planner looks like mine, and like my numerous to do lists and such. I change systems frequently, looking for the best way to keep up with my tasks/appointments, etc. So far, nothing is working. :(
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