Thoughts On Having Too Much To Do

It has occurred to me that having too much to do all too often results in getting less done. Have you found that to be true as well? Back in the day, when my life belonged to me and no one else, I got a lot done - stuff that I wanted to do. I wrote several novels. I was active in my community. I had fun. I think the most fun was being able to do what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it. How could that not be fun?

Things are different these days. I have to work at a job where someone else hands me a paycheck. True, I only do it three days a week but that's a lot, particularly when you figure that I have always hated working for someone else. It used to be, when I was young, footloose and fancy-free and thought the ride would never end, that I would gauge a job by how long I would have to work before I could chuck it all and take a few months off to go lie on the beach. But now I'm grown up and have responsibilities and my beach days are over. Not just because I'm no longer young, but because I just don't go to the beach anymore!

Don't get me wrong, there are aspects of the job I have that I really like. Well, actually, there is only one aspect I can claim I will miss when I finally get to walk out that door for the last time. I'm a wine consultant and in that capacity, I get to taste about 2,000 wines a year. I taste everyday wines right on up to the pricey stuff like Cristal and Hundred Acre. I get to taste wines that most people aren't aware of and wouldn't know about except for the fact that I am their consultant and they trust my recommendations. I do like that part of the job. I hate having to wake up early in the morning. I hate have having to put up with the bs that is always part and parcel of any job that requires you to work for someone else. And I hate that it takes me away from the stuff that I love to do, which is writing.

I do write. I write for a political blog about things I care about. And I edit. Currently I am editing a book for my daughter that we are going to release this summer. Its title is American Woman. There is a subtitle but we haven't yet figured out what it is. Our designer, Ralph Faust, has once again come up with a killer cover and we are really excited about it. We have a company, ARK Stories, and we publish our books under that umbrella. We're building it but it's a slow process. My fondest wish is that it will get to the point where it provides both of us with a living doing what we want to do and writing what we want to write.

I've got an idea for a novel but I haven't started it yet. Actually, I have ideas for a lot of novels, but at present there is too much on my plate and I need to luxury of time so I can 1) sit down and write for an extended period of time and 2) remember what in the hell I wrote at first so I can keep things straight in my head while writing. That may sound odd but if I'm away from something for too long a stretch - and by that I mean a week or so - I tend to forget what I've written and what I've only thought of. I don't know if other writers have that problem but I do. So I haven't started my new novel. Yet. But I will. I just don't know when. Hopefully before the year is out, because I really do miss being in the thick of a story that is unfolding as I write it. It's the best kind of fun.

Okay! Well at least I've done something just for me today by writing this blog. Tomorrow it's get up early (ugh! - wish I were a morning person, but I'm not!), go taste some wine and sit in front of a computer all day and call my clients and hunt and peck for new business. Not to mention editing American Woman and maybe writing something scathing on the political blog. I like scathing.

Thanks for stopping by!