Story Sensei

(This article originally appeared on another blog in 2010 but I’m reposting it here.) I’m talking about balancing your writing with your “other stuff” as opposed to balancing your checkbook or not tripping over your feet every time you walk (I do the latter quite a lot, actually ...). Let’s face it, sometimes life gets just SO crazy busy you feel like you need to sleep for a YEAR to recover, except, oops, you only have time for a 2 minute nap before you have to do something else. My creativity reeeeeaaallly does not like to be hemmed in by schedules. Or discipline. Or deadlines, for that matter. It will pout in a corner just when I absolutely need a burst of some artistic brilliance to explode out of my fingers onto the computer screen. So I have learned to achieve balance between life and writing by compartmentalizing. Now before you run away screaming, hear me out. I’m not talking about anything rigid or (heaven forbid) disciplined . I’m talking about some tips and tricks...

(This article originally appeared on another blog in 2010 but I’m reposting it here.) As I write this, it’s late evening in California, because I’ve discovered my best writing time is usually in the evening and early morning hours. For years this really frustrated me because who in their right mind writes best at 2 a.m.? Especially when I had to get up at 8 a.m. to go to my biology job. (Pain and suffering ...) Why can’t I be like Ruthy who can get up at (Godforsaken) 4 in the morning to efficiently zip off a chapter before breakfast? Alas, God has a sense of humor. It’s why He gave me and my husband a buttheaded dog for our first family pet and why I out of all my cousins has a behind the size of Alaska. I write best between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., Pacific Standard time. It’s always been this way for me. Even when studying in college, I was most efficient around midnight. So how about you guys? (I know I’m going to regret this because I’m going to be insanely jealous at all you ...