Writing During the Holidays

Finding time to write during the Holidays season seems like a struggle. Can I slip into my office for an hour or so or should i be finishing my Christmas shopping? Get those decorations up? And all that normal household stuff like laundry, dishes, vacuuming. I was once a stay at home mom. When that was my job I took the keeping of the house seriously. Old habits die hard. If I see something that needs to be taken care of in the house, I itch to get it done. Not doing it is like watching a job you loved for many years, fall apart.  

Carving out writing time without guilt is always a challenge. Doing it with the holidays here is like living in crazy-land. I sometimes wonder if I should just put it on hold until January when we're trapped in the house by snow.

I need to find a way to get rid of the guilt. Being a writer with a day job is like having two full time jobs and only time for one. Still feeling the need to fulfill the responsibilities of a stay at home mom, make for full time job number 3.  Yes, my husband helps but he also has an hour commute to and from work. Since he's doing that two hour drive every day I don't ask him to  do too much housework. He has enough with yard work, home repairs/improvements, bringing wood in for the wood stove, and shoveling snow. He does his part.

Back to finding that time to write. It used to be easy. I used to get up and write at 6 a.m. before work. Lately, bouts of insomnia screw up that schedule.

 I think I need to make up a new schedule for all this stuff and writing. Help!

What's your writing schedule during the holidays? Do you go to your desk at the same time every day?

Writing, Time, Excuses and Writer's Block

Blame Writer's Block, procrastination, or maybe even fear.
Getting back to writing after vacations, holidays, or any other thing that blips your writer's radar can be hard. In the past four months I've had many blips and can't seem to get back on schedule.

Writer's block?
Not sure this is really my problem. To blast past writer's block I believe a person simply has to give themselves permission to just write. Write bad, write crap, write out of your normal genre or just blast out some fan fiction. But just keep writing without ego and without care. Write.

Vacation?
Yeah, two weeks in Florida and driving there and back kind of depleted my energy. It was a great vacation, but totally knocked me off schedule. On vacation there is no schedule. You do things because you want to go and see and you do things because you're there with others and you want to spend time with them. The better the vacation, the harder it is to get back to work.

Holidays?
Always a schedule breaker. Instead of spending days working, you're now rushing around trying to get things done, shopping, cooking (okay, maybe I lied about cooking), cleaning. Writing is the first thing to take a backseat.

Emo blips?
I lost my brother in October. He was the sweetest, most gentlest soul you would ever meet. He was kind to everyone, determined and dedicated to family and friends. He was sick for a while but when he went it was still a surprise. We thought he was getting better and then -suddenly- CRASH! And he was gone too soon. :( It still seems unreal. Like a bad dream you hope isn't real. You see something and think, "I gotta share this with Mike." But Mike is gone. I still talk to him, hoping his spirit hears me and knows I care and miss him. This also slowed the writing and determination to finish things to a halt. I think it just needs time. Five stages and all that.

Another blip?
Unemployment ran out. :( And I live in NJ. A place with the highest unemployment in the land and no real jobs program. If you look to the State for help they offer classes to help you get employed. Too bad their classes are decades behind what employers are looking for in today's computer age. Even the people I spoke to at Unemployment know this, but are powerless to help. So every morning I send out resumes and then think about writing. I need to be more of a producer. Get things written and put them out there. I know this. What I don't know is why I can't.

School?
Last semester an HTML/CSS/XHTML class kicked my *ss. I would spend days working on assignments and often had to go to the computer lab for help. I scored a B- in that class and almost fell off my chair when I read that grade.

So does any of this excuse not writing? No, of course not. I have to nail down a schedule and stick to it. Help! What's your schedule and how do you stick to it? Any advice?

Book Finished....

Since losing my job last December, I've decided to take on the writing full time. I get up at 6 a.m. and I'm dressed and at my desk at 9 a.m. ready to write. Its a job, I go there everyday. Except for two or three days after I finish a book. 

Yesterday I finished No Apologies so today I'm off. Weirdly, on my off day(s) I tend to wander and get nothing done. I almost feel lost. It's like that world I lived in for months has evaporated. 

I don't want to jump to another world just yet, I think I have to clear my head first. 

I work on book covers. 

Think up new names for the book. (No Apologies gets a few hits on Amazon with other books by the same name so I probably need to change it)

Wander aimlessly around the house.

Thursday afternoon I start back to work. I can't wait.