Anyone who knows me knows that I am constantly writing schedules. I think that if I can find a schedule I can stick to, then I will have a more organized life and I will be able to fit in EVERYTHING that I want to do and learn (which, by the way, is a lot). I write and rewrite and rewrite schedules and lists in an attempt to organize my days in such a way that not only will I be able to write, research, read, submit items for publication, work out, do devotions, make all meals, and clean the house, but also learn the piano, learn Russian, work on additional books and stories, learn more about writing, visit exotic locations (such as the library) AND have free time, watch movies/tv shows, play games, and spend time with my husband. You get the idea.
So – my latest attempt involves getting up between 5:00 and 5:30 in the morning to give myself an hour and a half to two hours before I have to get ready for work to fit in anything involving writing that I can free up my evening a little as well as get to bed at a reasonable time (hard for a night owl, but necessary when you have a career). This has been my goal for approximately two weeks and I’ve already rewritten my schedule accordingly about 3 times. I’ve succeeded twice. Once last week and now this morning. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.
Despite the difficulty of getting up at what I think is an ungodly time in the morning – there is still something really nice about having a completely silent house to work in – and more than that – not feeling like I SHOULD be doing something else – because I know everything else can wait until evening. It helps me actually concentrate more on all my writing stuff because I have no distractions or guilt about not doing other things. So I do hope I get up tomorrow too. After all, a writer who also has a career and ambitions outside of writing has to make sacrifices somewhere. Sleep might be one of them. I’ll let you know – or maybe just write another schedule.
Forest Idylls 