I’m feeling a bit lost at sea this week. It’s the first full week back to work after the holidays, and readjusting to my weekly routine is harder this year. Perhaps that’s because I’m getting older. Or it might be burnout and fatigue from the uncertainty of our political mess. The rage and fear I’ve been feeling since the Trump regime took office have harmed my creative work. And that can’t be good for my physical or mental health.
Setting that aside, I’m struggling to set deadlines for my 2019 writing goals. I mean, I’d love to say that I’ll have a revision on my romance WIP completed by the end of March. But that’s not realistic given other goals that I’m working on.
I just started another 8-week class at the Writers Studio. Getting the weekly writing assignment done keeps me writing on a regular basis, which is why I love taking writing classes. But making sure I get critiques done for my classmates takes away some of my writing time.
Plus, I have deadlines of March 1st and April 1st for applications to two sci-fi/fantasy writing programs. I need to get writing samples completed, and they have different length requirements. As much as I’d love to use a single writing sample for both applications, I’m not sure that will be feasible. Anything that’s short enough for the one means that the longer sample has unnecessary fluff. Argh.
On the plus side, I now have my writing laptop hooked up to an external monitor and ergonomic keyboard. My hope is that these tools will reduce the shoulder pain I’ve been feeling when working. It should also make it easier to see my work and give me some flexibility to lay out multiple drafts side-by-side for editing.
Since I have some application deadlines coming up, along with regular class assignments, I’m going to take a social media break for several weeks. I’ll still post to my blog on Fridays, but I’m removing all social media apps from my devices. Gotta spend less time with the online drama so I can torture my characters in peace.
What a wacky, weird, wonderful life this writing life can be.
(Photo by Tyler Lastovich on Unsplash)
Ruth F. Simon 