My Non-existent Work/Life Balance

Lately I've been struggling with my work/life balance. I've been engrossed in some very big projects at work and as a result I've been unable to actually fit in the time for my writing. I've been getting home any time between 7-9pm and just too exhausted to spend another 3 hours working on my novel. Which i know is defeatist claptrap, but it's where I've been lately. Its also why my blog posting has been sporadic and slightly shorter than usual.

With the poor economy, more lay offs and in general more work to go around its hard to treat my job as a 9.30-5.30 affair. When I was fresh out of college I really believed that work ended at X time. Especially as I didn't get paid overtime. Now, i still don't get paid overtime, but more and more frequently I'm at the office later and later. Plus, professionally I've been given a lot of projects that are testing my merit and work as an assistant and clearly designed to push me forward. So, I've found it incredibly difficult to just turn my machine off and leave work unfinished.

Normally, I'm very good at reminding myself I have two jobs, one that pays the bills the other that fulfills my days. Although, with my day job now being something that I've grown to love, its weird to find I have a passion for both professions. So, my question to all you writers out there is how do you find that balance between work and writing? I used to be able to answer this question with a simple work ends at 5.30 and writing is from 8-10 (or so). But now, I can't.

So, when all of you out there get very busy how do you juggle all your work and writing commitments? So far I've been reassessing my writing goals and making them smaller (hey, it's better to get a little bit done than nothing, right?) and trying to force myself to have at least two nights a week out the door no later than 6pm. Its been working, but its a slow process. Now, if only I could reclaim my lunch hour...

So, the floor is open for suggestions. Just how do you strike that tricksy balance?

Check out my guest post!

Here I am being all school-marmie and chatting about hiring freelance writers.

http://catalystblogger.blogspot.com/2009/09/guest-post-want-to-work-with-me-here.html

Tomorrow I'll have a writing related blog post up here (gasp on a Saturday and all!). But for today-- here's some freelancing tips!

Passive-Aggressive Hell

My rhino of revision is really enjoying himself this week...

Ok, I should backtrack before I continue with that thought. I've sort of nicknamed my writing process. Though my actual drafting and revising process follows Jennifer's, I have affectionately given the writing and revising stages totem animals. My writing stage has a writing monkey. I think this is because when I write I like to have total abandon. I like to be able to throw all my (literary) shit (ideas) around and take chances-- because sometimes the shit will stick. My revision stage has a Revising Rhino. My rhino bounds across my novel, ruthless, getting the plot into order, fixing massive continuity gaps and in general intimidating all my bad writing while protecting the small nuggets that are worth salvaging. My rhino is fearless, but fierce-- I am slightly terrified of him.

This week I'm finishing up my first read through. My draft is very rough. I've got some really lovely scenes and a plot that crumbles in the beginning and then smashes together at the end. I'm thrilled to finally be getting to the end of what has been (for me) an intolerable step in my writing process. I hate re-reading what I've written, because that's when my passive-aggressive streak takes over. My writing doubts for this week: my main character is annoying, my plot is not as original as I thought it was, someone else has written a better book on this topic, omg--did I seriously spend eight months working on this? it's awful.

So, I've spent most of my time convincing myself all first drafts are awful and that the only way to go from here is up. I'm looking forward to this week's challenge-- re-plotting and re-writing scenes that don't work. I feel more proactive and hopefully this will keep my inner passive-aggressive streak at bay.

So, spill it, do any of your suffer a passive-aggressive streak as you revise? Are these doubts normal? Or should I seriously consider another profession?

What I'm Reading (Scat and The Time Traveler's Wife)

I kind of like it that I'm pretty widely read. I love my trash, YA fiction, literary novels and the occasional thriller. These past two weeks haven't been an exception. So, here's what I've been reading:

Scat- Carl Hiaasen
Scat, Carl Hiaasen's latest YA novel, has the same scatterbrained and hilarious characters that freckle all of his adult crime novels. If you've never read a Carl Hiaasen novel, I highly recommend them. They're fun, engaging and always packed with a muckracking ecological message. Scat is no exception-- touching on issues like the War in the Middle East, terrifying teachers, troubled teens and endangered Florida Panthers you're soon lost in a rip-roaring plot. What Hiaasen does so well is portray real people who get caught up in truly wild adventures. This is a great end of summer read-- or a back to school essential!

The Time Traveler's Wife- Audrey Niffenegger
This book broke me. I can't remember the last time I read such a heart wrenching story. I picked up a copy because I started to see the movie adverts (oh yes, I am highly motivated by marketing). I'd been told how wonderful the book was for years-- but I'm not a big fan of love stories. Romances, sure, on occasion. But 'love stories' imply something deep and tragic and just don't interest me. However, The Time Traveler's Wife is something rare and beautiful. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Its a beautiful novel of hope, longing, and love. I wont be reading anymore 'love stories' for a while, but for the first time I can understand why people love to read these novels.

I'll update you on what I'm reading now in a few weeks! Have a wonderful weekend. If you've got any book suggestions please do leave me a comment-- I'm always looking for another good read.

When to Fold....(Letting Go of a Novel)

Sometimes, no matter how good your intentions are, you have to just let a project go. Last year I wrote over 50k in a novel that showed promise. It made me feel as if this could be the project I finally finished. However, I put the novel on hold last November to work on a 'bright shiny new idea' during NaNoWriMo. When I returned to my novel all I could see was the plot holes, characters who were all over the place and all the mistakes I'd made. I set the document down again, this time determined not to return to it.

My novel didn't have that lustre it had pre-Nano, and if I'm honest, this particular project never had the same pull as my Nano novel. It was a hard lesson to learn, but for me this first novel was an exercise in getting a routine started. This novel had been all about possibilities. Was it possible for me to meet a goal each week (yes)? Was it possible for me to actually sustain a plot for more than 100 pages (yes)? Was it possible for me to create engaging characters with their own stories and agendas (yes)?

If all of these possibilities existed you are probably wondering why I let my story go-- and the answer is that it needed a major structural overhaul. I would have had to edit the early draft I'd created, look carefully at the book (it was trying to be both chick lit and literary fiction-- not a line that is easily straddled) and replot major sections. I was too close to the story, too close to what I'd written (and what I wished I'd written) to actually make the changes I'd need to salvage my first attempt.

In order to move forward, I had to let my beautiful story go. The decision felt a lot like giving up, but the more I thought about it the more I knew it was the right thing to do (for me). If I didn't let that story go for a while it would be a constant battle of rewrites, doubts and ultimately four of five drafts that were each different from my original concept.

Now, almost a year since I set the novel aside I am beginning to clearly see how to shape and edit my ideas. I am finally feeling that passion for the story and characters that kept me writing about them. I'm not quite ready yet to return to that particular novel, but I know that when I do it will be with a solid map (outline) and compass. Because, I still love this story-- and it would be shame to never do justice to a wonderful cast of characters who entertained me for months.