Something
my fellow Fierce Romance author Natasha Moore said to me over the summer
sparked this blog. She told me she felt guilty about not writing while she was
on vacation. It’s a comment that was backed up recently by author (and ex-agent)
Nathan Bransford in a blog he titled: When It Feels Like You’re Never Doing Enough.
Writers
are the only people I know of who feel guilty about taking a day off. Most
people love time away from their job, but for us writers, there’s always a
nagging feeling lurking in the back of our minds that “I could be writing right
now,” or worse, “I should be writing
right now.”
There
have been weekends when I’ve sent my husband off to the movies by himself just
so I could spend those two hours working on my current WIP. There are nights when I skip sitting beside
him on the couch watching Hawaii 5-0 and instead sit in front of the computer (and
believe me, it’s damned difficult to give up an hour looking at gorgeous Alex
O’Loughlin)!
So
how much is too much? How do you find balance between a writer’s life and real
life?
I
suppose it would be easier if writers could sit at their computer and just turn
on a switch to fire up their Muse. If I could work a solid eight hours and get lots
of pages written, I wouldn’t feel so guilty about quitting at six o’clock, just
like I do at my day job. Maybe it’s because I’m a pantser rather than a plotter
that being consistently productive is so uncertain for me. But really, I
believe the Muse is a fickle friend. She can’t be told what to do (or when). So
when a writer is ‘in the zone,’ it’s a beautiful thing and she is not to be
disturbed!
Trouble
is, that zone could come at any time, so we have to be ready for it 24/7. Which
means family sometimes takes a back seat. Which can make for guilt all around. Guilt
that you’re neglecting your most important personal relationships if you write,
or guilt that you’re neglecting the creative force that drives us to write if
you don’t.
So…
How do YOU handle the demands of being a writer?
Jenna
www.jennaives.com 