Weekend Timecard
Posted Sun, 04/06/08
I'm rewriting a few scenes – and rearranging several others – for Mind Sweeper, which has made my weekend very busy. I've let other things slide in the process, such as touching base with people I promised to connect with on Saturday and Sunday.
I wrote this for the spring update at my web site, and it applies today as it will for most of my time hereafter:
I'm perhaps harder on myself when it comes to self-imposed deadlines than I am with anything else to do with the writing process. No one is breathing down my neck to finish a project, except for yours truly. I usually take no quarter, so if I slack off for a time I tend to berate myself vigorously. And what forms of punishment come as a result? No personal interaction via telephone, postal mail, e-mail or other online activity. I try to keep all outside distractions to a minimum, as difficult as that may sound.
Sometimes I slip, but each time I do I seem to become slowly – but increasingly - immune to outside diversions. It might not leave me with much of a personal life, but the rewards are much greater and not fraught with as many disappointments.
It's nothing to be sad about, honestly, because it is the life I have chosen willingly and I'm very happy with it. Quite often people don't believe that, but it's in their best interest if they do because they will be sorely disillusioned in the end otherwise.
Tags: Mind Sweeper; Writing