B is for Balance

and for The Birthday Party

There are two kinds of balance, I think, in writing - and I'm shite at both. There's the balance outside of what I write, which means getting everything done and having time to breathe, oh yeah, and write. Nathan Bransford touched on this topic last week and I think in this ebook/author platform age, its harder to do. Blogging takes up a lot of time, especially when you want to be thoughtful, but can't always be (I leave Wednesdays as my chunk o' links day so I don't burn out quite so much.) Not to mention keeping up with other blogs and finding new ones - there are so many people out there that must be living lives very similar to mine with similar dreams. Reading their blogs makes it feel less lonely on mine, and makes me feel part of a community. You also have to constantly educate yourself on the state of the industry on what deals are being done and who is sleeping with who.

Okay, just put that in there to see if you were paying attention. I don't actually know/want to know who is sleeping with whom. But I do want to know if I should have used 'whom' or if 'who' is now more generally accepted. Balance. I have more curiosity than I have bandwith to absorb it all. So sometimes I stop. I don't go online, I don't read news. I just stop trying to keep up with the writing jones. I go for a walk and count bluejays. I jump in the bouncy castle with my daughter. It's refreshing to be off grid, though a little scary. Ultimately I think it's a reset. I can go back to the world of the writing life feeling less like a hamster on a wheel.

In my writing, balance means something different, but it's also hard to do. I don't really understand people who ask writers 'where do you get your ideas from?' I have no more power to stop an idea popping up than to stop a charging bull. The effers are everywhere. The problem is finding the right idea AND resisting the urge to populate the WIP with too many ideas. Ideas, in and of themselves are marvelous things. They're frigging supermodels, beautiful, enticing, wearing cool clothes. But I have to be careful I don't litter my WIP with too many beautiful ideas, just because they are there, drinking seltzer and smoking too much. Balance. It takes daily practice.

So, how do you find writing and life balance? Share your tips!