I was never the kid who did homework on Friday nights until
I had to be.
Early in my schooling years, I’d live it up (usually with
pizza and a movie) on Friday and Saturday nights and then spend my Sundays
scrambling to finish writing papers or doing math problems while beating myself
up for not doing my assignments earlier.
This all changed very quickly when my long-time gymnastics
habit turned into an actual competitive team commitment. Soon came 25-hour
weeks in the gym to go on top of all my school work and other extracurricular
activities like volunteering and, I don’t know, being a 12-year-old kid.
Suddenly, my schedule was my life.
In order to get everything done, I finally had to be the kid
who sat in her room working on algebra problems until 10 p.m. Friday night. I
didn’t care if this made me a total nerd because doing my homework on Friday
night meant I could do what I wanted the rest of the weekend. Hang out with my
friends all day Saturday, go shopping with my mom, watch the Chiefs game with
my dad, play with my little sister, head to the gym for a little extra work on
my own Saturday mornings.
The sky was the limit, as long as my work was out of the way.
Thus, work before play became my motto back in middle school
when it was a must. Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to do all the things
I wanted to do.
And it’s still my motto today.
Basically, my fiction is my “fun stuff.” What I want to sit
down and savor. I don’t want to feel rushed. Or pressured by my other commitments
to finish a scene, hit a word count, or whatever. So, I get other things
finished first, and save my fiction for last.
This isn’t an easy task because these days, I also live and
die by my schedule. It is PACKED. I have a full-time job, a family, a habit of
ultrarunning. I have freelance—both writing and editing—and blogs like this one
and the one I do over at Mysteristas.
And, of course, I have my own writing habit.
Add all those things together, and I am one very busy
person.
I can manage it all, but I need to have a hierarchy going or
I get in trouble. So, just like when I was back in middle school, it’s always
work before play.
My full-time job comes first. Then my paid writing and
editing gigs. Then my regular unpaid gigs like this one. And then, finally, comes
my “fun” writing.
(Obviously, family comes before ALL those things, but this
blog is about work.)
Therefore, to stay sane/on top of things, I’ve got to get my
paid obligations finished before my unpaid ones.
Not the most fun thing to do in the world, to be honest. I’d
much rather spend all my extra minutes tweaking my work in progress, but, I’m
an adult, and therefore I’m going to finish my freelance first.
Every. Single.
Time.
That said, actually sticking to my motto is especially hard
when I’m in the thick of a project (like now) and can feel the words crowding
center stage in my mind.
But, it must be done.
And once it’s done, I’ll have my fun—without all the other
things I have to do hanging over my head.
How do you prioritize your writing life?
