Finding Balance

One of my favorite movies is The Karate Kid, the 1984 original with Pat Morita as Mr. Miyagi. The part that I really liked and hit a resonance with me was near the end when Daniel Larusso is hurt and asks his sansei to “do that thing” with his hands to help him get back into the competition. Mr. Miyagi tells Daniel there is no need, but Daniel tells him he needs to get his balance.

Balance in life. That is a tough one. I struggle with balance right now. My current employment demands a lot of my time and attention. I have children at home, a married son, a wife, and a lot of things I want to do. Work/Life balance is a challenge. So as I build the schedule for the week, and look at what homelife demands are I ask myself this one question: What matters most?

By looking at what matters most it helps me to make decisions on where I need to be. By looking at my priorities, my values the decisions on where I need to be and when become clearer. I do my job. I will be doing the job. Yet I can delegate things to some subordinates and be able to be with the family when that is the most important event.

Next week we’ll look at setting priorities in your life. Looking at what your values are it helps to set priorities and helps you to be able to get that balance in your life. I’ve been out of balance for some time, but I am slowly working at training my assistance to be better, working on my crew to be better. By empowering them, it frees my attention for other things. Then when it is time to go home, I can be home both physically and mentally. Dad at home is so important. Then I can be home when I am home. I can plan my personal time to complete other projects that are important to me.

Balance. Finding balance takes effort, but so worth it in the end. What are the barriers in your life that are keeping you from finding your balance? What steps do you need to take to remove those barriers? What can you start doing today to start down the path to gaining in your balance?

Thrusday's Time Tip: Organization vs. Spur of the Moment

It is now football season. Friday night high school football, Saturday Collage Games, Sunday NFL football, are all in full swing. Locker rooms are telling. One coach noted that the offensive line players, their lockers are neat and very tidy. The defensive players lockers are … chaotic, almost without fail. Interesting phenomenon. When you stop and look at things it does make some sense. The defense is reacting to what the offense does. The offense has a plan, a strategy, a way of doing things. Thus the players tend to have places for things and order. The defense reacts to what the offense is doing; their life is a bit more chaotic.

Up to now I’ve been blogging about the best use of time, values, and management tips. All of these are very important. Especially if you are trying to get organized, be efficient, or attempting to accomplish goals. We are planning our offense.

I want to throw something else out there for you to mull around. Don’t be so ridged that you can’t take an opportunity to stop and smell the flowers, to use an old metaphor. This is almost a complete contradiction to what we’ve been working towards. Chaotic elements, but that is what life always does: life is what happens when you are making other plans.

A few weeks ago I posted about a labor day weekend, The Snapshot. If you haven’t read it, please take a moment to follow the link and read, and leave a message. Sometimes we are so busy and working so hard to get things done that life passes us by. We find we miss out on some of the really important things.

So you may want to add some flexibility into all of your planning and managing. Someday the wind will be just right to go and fly a kite. Take a look at what you’ve got, rearrange things and take the moment to fly that kite. You’ll take some time to build memories. I am so grateful my wife and I decided to take a day and go to the beach. It was a wonderful day, and even more wonderful because of the tragic events that happened a week later. I am grateful that we took the time to go and have some fun. So if the urge strikes to fly a kite, run to the beach, go out for lunch, stop in and visit an old friend, or do anything else that “isn’t in the plans” let the plans go, rearrange, reschedule, take the time to do a spur of the moment whim.

Yes, make plans, manage, but be prepared to make changes, but try to focus on what matters most. When life is all said and done, I don’t think anyone will wish they spent more time at work, or more time on their projects. Family and friends are why we spend the hours at work and on projects. To earn the income to live life. Take the opportunities to make great memories.

Guest Blogging tomorrow

I'll have two posts tomorrow. One right here on Organization vs. Spur of the Moment and another post over at Words from the Woods. So after reading my post and leaving a great comment pop over to Cat's blog and see what I'm sharing over there!

Riley’s Handy Dandy List

Today Riley Redgate is my guest here on The Write Time. I am blogging over on The Mighty Jungle today.

I met Riley Redgate over at AQC, I was fortunate to have her critique my query when I put it up for review. It wasn’t sugar coated, but it was well said. So as I learned more about her the more impressed I became. Here is a bit of what I've pieced together about Riley: She is a competitive piano player; in a service club, leads an a cappella group, runs cross country, manages/acts with a theatre troupe, She is valedictorian, and right now she has two mss in the works and one steaming up in her brain that's crying out to be written! She claims to never sleep. I tend to believe that based on the time stamps on some of her comments on AQC!

Go check out her blog In The Jungle.

I told her she was a prime candidate to post on my blog, she has accomplished a lot. So here is Riley!

First of all, big thanks to Dean for inviting me here! Perhaps writing about time management will ... er ... make me better at it. Because yep, that's right, I'm not an epically efficient time wizard.

Actually, funny story! I used to be an epically efficient time wizard. Back in middle school, oh man, I was so good at time management. I had schedules for myself. I had blocks of time set up for 1) homework, 2) piano practice, 3) sports practice (soccer, tennis, softball), 4) rehearsal, 5) hanging out with my friends every so often, 6) reading, and 7) necessary bodily functions.

Just kidding. I didn't plot out my necessary bodily functions. I was/am a little neurotic, sure, but not THAT neurotic...

Anyway. Notice what's missing from that handy-dandy list?

Oh yeah, that's right. WRITING. My high productivity levels met a swift and messy end when I discovered something I enjoyed doing that took up tremendous blobs of time. And it was just a vicious cycle from there, believe me. Here's a little how-to guide for emulating my sophomore year (for those of you with whom I'm unacquainted, that's two years ago):

Step One: Get home from school; spend time writing.
Step Two: Start homework far too late; work into the wee hours of the morning.
Step Three: Wake up bleary and exhausted.
Step Four: Slog through school.
Step Five: Come home and spend time writing ... but since I'm exhausted, this takes far longer than it should.
Step Six: Start homework at midnight; spend hours doing what would have taken half an hour had I slept more the night before...
Step Seven: Wake up dead.
Rinse and repeat.

You can imagine how much fun that was! Yeah, not at all. But that's okay - I've come up with an easy, fun, perfect solution.

I have a pretty busy existence. Here's some quick math - every Monday through Friday, I have:

-cross-country practice for twelve-and-a-half-ish hours
-rehearsal for twelve-and-a-half-ish hours
-school for forty hours
-piano for two or three hours; chorus is the same.

So that's 70-ish hours absorbed out of 120 available hours. Subtract eating (I don't eat breakfast; so let's say a small 2.5 hours for food) and general hygiene (2.5 other hours) and I have 45 hours left to play with. According to my father, teenagers are supposed to have 9 and 1/4 hours of sleep a night (HA HA HA yeah right). That's already not feasible; that would require 46 and a fourth hours.

What's the easy, fun, perfect solution to this mathematical paradox, you ask? Where's the writing time coming from?

Tricked you! I was kidding - there is nothing easy, fun, or perfect about having to carve time out of nowhere to do the thing that calls your name 24/7.

What I do know is that going a day without writing would be more frustrating than going a day without food. And... er, yeah, I'm well aware that sounds WAY overdramatic, but it's no exaggeration. Eating doesn't give me any sort of spiritual fulfillment or intellectual satisfaction. After eating, I don't feel like I've gained anything or done anything of worth. Writing, on the other hand, is my outlet. It's what I wait for during those 8 hours of school and 2 hours of running and 3 hours of rehearsal. So yes, I'm willing to sacrifice sleep for it.

Weekends are another matter. More specifically, weekends are heaven. Provided I don't have too much homework, I will sleep and write and sleep some more and lounge around being slothlike and then writewritewrite.

Usually, though, it's a struggle. But hey - you give some, you get some. Personally, I'm way happier having lost bunches of sleep and gained a novel than I would be if I'd just been well-rested all the time.

That said, I don't budget writing time only out of my sleeping hours. I plan characters during my lunch period (yeah, I'm that weird girl scribbling in her car during lunch break), plot while I'm running my cross country workouts, and if a class is being particularly useless... well, I may just find an alternate activity. I maximize the output of every second I can get.

It's a big question, whether we're willing to give up normal activities (i.e. sleeping) for writing, especially when we're in the 'thankless' stage of the process (unpublished, unagented, un-everythinged). But in my opinion, writing is all about risk. How much time am I willing to give? How big a plot am I willing to write? How daring is my concept? Can I really sacrifice sleep and energy for the novel brewing in my mind? We have to put everything we've got on the table, write with reckless abandon. And sure, maybe it's reckless to abandon the conventions of studenthood to stay up typing and retyping the same sentence into Microsoft Word, debating whether the use of passive voice is appropriate here, wondering if my characters are well-rounded enough. These are not problems for normal people.

I guess I'm fine with not being normal.

Thanks again, Dean, for having me! Write on! =]

Guest Blogger Riley Redgate and Peter Morin Launches his book today!

Tomorrow will be a blog swap.

Riley Redgate will be my guest blogger. I will be In The Mighty Jungle giving some time management tips over on her blog.

IT'S LAUNCH DAY! Pete Morin, an AQC friend, is releasing his novel, Diary of a Small Fish. Wow, I'll have to put him on my to interview list! Anyway today is his day. Congrads Pete! Go check out his work.


Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Diary-Small-Fish-ebook/dp/B005Q33C1K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317216686&sr=8-1


Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/91217

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1105969700?ean=2940013335851&itm=1&usri=diary%2bof%2ba%2bsmall%2bfish



Here's the blurb:



When Paul Forte is indicted by a federal grand jury, everyone suspects prosecutor Bernard (don’t call him “Bernie”) Kilroy has more on his mind than justice. Then the FBI agent in charge of Paul’s case gives him a clue to the mystery: Kilroy is bent on settling an old family score, and he’s not above breaking the law to do it.

Paul is already dealing with the death of his parents and divorce from a woman he still loves. Now, with the support of an alluring grand juror, Paul must expose the vindictive prosecutor’s own corruption before the jury renders a verdict on his Osso Buco.

Bio:

Pete Morin has been a trial attorney, a politician, a bureaucrat, a lobbyist, and a witness (voluntary and subpoenaed) to countless outrages. He combines them all in this debut novel.

Pete’s short fiction has appeared in NEEDLE, A Magazine of Noir, Words With Jam, 100 Stories for Haiti, and Words to Music. He published many of them in a collection titledUneasy Living, available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When he is not writing crime fiction or legal mumbo jumbo, Pete plays blues guitar in Boston bars, enjoys the beach, food and wine with his wife, Elizabeth, and their two adult children, and on rare occasion, punches a fade wedge to a tight pin surrounded by sand or water. He lives in a money pit on the seacoast south of Boston, in an area once known as the Irish Riviera.

Pete is represented by Christine Witthohn of Book Cents Literary Agency.

See everyone tomorrow for our blog swap!

Versital Blogger Award Thanks, and the Awards Go To...

Well I didn’t expect this, but it is sure nice to receive things unlooked for. My friend I’ve made over at AQC has sent me the Versatile Blogger Award. So to start this off I send her a heartfelt thank you!

So here is the award:



And here are the rules:

1. Thank and link to the person who nominated me.
2. Share seven random facts about myself.
3. Pass the award along to 5 new-found blogging buddies.
4. Contact those buddies to congratulate them.

Seven Random Facts.

1. I’ve a BS from Utah State University in Business
2. I’ve visited 38 of the 50 states
3. I’ve lived in 10 different states
4. I drive my cars until they are worn out (200,000 miles +)
5. All my children play a musical instrument (Piano, Cello, Flute, Viola, and sing)
6. I’ve built two houses.
7. I have an hour commute to work.

Now to honor five blogging buddies who I feel are versatile bloggers.

1. Cat Woods – She has some of the most awesome blog posts.
2. Joyce Alton aka Clippership – I think she has some of the most insightful posts.
3. RC Lewis – Has some practical ideas
4. Jeff King – I respect this fellow, who really is working hard at learning his craft and sharing with everyone
5. MarcyKate – has a very versatile blog and think this would look good on her site.
6. I know only five, but Riley Redgate has so much going on in her life she needs one for her blog so when she comes back she has something to write about!

So there it all is. Thanks again Moonshade.

Guest Blogger Cat Woods on TIME® MANAGEMENT

Today's blog post is by guest blogger Cat Woods. Yes, she is another friend I've made over at Agent Query Connect. She has a fantastic blog called Words from the Woods (My favorite post on her blog was about her computer in need of protection.) She is a great writer, and has a fantastic blog. Check it out, but remember to come back here!

So anyway, I asked Cat if she'd like to be a guest blogger, so yes, we are doing a blog swap. I've got to think up something to say for her, but since my compters are all on the fritz she hasn't given me a firm deadline, yet...

So Here is Cat.



First I'd like to thank Dean for asking me to guest post on his blog. One of the reasons I'm so impressed with the invitation is that Dean is organized and writes a blog on time management. I, however, am not. Organized or good at time management.

On the outside, I'm pretty unruffled. Yet when you peek inside, you'll note that I'm a bit of a mess. I've forgotten to drop my kids off at school. I've told my kids I'll pick them up in five minutes and remember this promise two hours later. I'll lose track of time and realize at 5:28 that the hamburger is still frozen for dinner--scheduled to be eaten at 5:32.

But before you call social services on me, hear me out.

I'm learning to better manage my time thanks to the handy invention of a timer. You laugh, but the end result is that I no longer forget my children AND I'm more productive by the end of the day.

Here's the method to my madness.

I plug every, single, little thing into my google calendar and assign events multiple reminders based on how much time I will need to prep for said event. As the day progresses, my phone will chime a beautiful reminder and my computer will concur. I then calculate what I need to get done and how much time I have left to do it in. This is where the microwave comes in.

I set the timer. Sometimes both the microwave and the stove. Then I get busy. I use this specific chunk of time to write, or any derivation, thereof. The adrenaline kicks in and nudges my creativity. "Hello," the downward spiraling numbers seem to say, "you only have forty seven minutes and sixteen seconds to get that scene done. Oh wait...forty seven fifteen, forty seven fourteen, thirteen, twelve...."

This time constraint works for my otherwise-wandering mind and keeps me focused on the task at hand.

But what about the days I have nothing planned beyond the mundane housework, work out and meal prep and the not-so mundane writing, reading, social networking and editing?

Not having specific events scheduled in an eight hour period turns me into a labrador puppy with a bad case of ADD. I sniff my way from project to project, getting side-tracked upon side-tracked. Before I know it, the day is over and I've followed various links so deep into the cyber sphere I could tell you when the first case of documented toilet paper use was (589 AD in China) and what some of the more unseemly substitutions were (you don't want to know). Strange when you consider I started hours earlier by looking up the definition of pugnacious.

On these days, the washing machine nicely breaks up my day and helps me keep on task. Throw in one load of laundry and blog. When the buzzer goes off at the end of the cycle, switch gears. In this way, I move throughout my day of writing and real life, succeeding at both endeavors.

And if I fail to hear the laundry buzzer, it's usually because I got wrapped up in my writing or editing, in which case all is forgiven because I'm on a roll.

Oops, gotta run. The microwave is calling my name.

Thanks, Dean!


When Cat Woods isn't chasing dust bunnies or raising her family of seven (1 dear hubby, 4 fabulous kids and 2 hunting labs), she writes juvenile lit. She's penned everything from warm and fuzzy board books to dark YA. You can find her at Words from the Woods, where she blogs about her writing journey.