Balance.  Yin and Yang.

Contrary to popular myth (especially amongst wanna be writers), a lot of us don't make our living writing full time.  It's our dream and ambition, but not always the reality.  I work full time, a job having nothing to do with creativity or writing. I have a full time relationship, 11 cats, the need for daily exercise, and a love of odd crafts and hobbies, also having nothing to do with writing. I have 8 upcoming books with Ravenous (and oh, I am having so much fun writing them), plus several writing projects of a more unerotic nature.  So I have a strict (most of the time) writing schedule and, as much as I love spontaneity, generally have to plan ahead to fit everything I want/need to do into my life.  It really is all about finding the balance and keeping stress at a minimum.

The cats tend to be involved in most aspects of my life.  Several are very interactive when I exercise.  Yoga is very popular; I think they like showing off their flexibility as their mother struggles to do yet one more Downward Dog.  When I write, I generally have at least one feline on my lap above my laptop.  Sometimes ON my laptop, which leads to cryptic messages such as Q%Rf09u2.  Probably feline for 'we are taking over the world, surrender your opposable thumbs, human!' When I do any sort of crafts...well, I take the wood burner and hot glue gun outside.  Trust me.  It's better that way.

So far I've managed to stay sane and meet my deadlines.  I'm almost enjoying the challenge of juggling it all and staying balanced.  But I am definitely working towards the goal of full time writer.  In the meantime, I will continue to do feline enhanced yoga and enjoy the challenge!

And yes, Lilah...More Mewses.  Any excuse....

Tags: balance | yin yang | writing | yoga | cats

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My last post was about my muse, Zin.  Well, this is one of my mews, Tsavo. We hosted a pot luck/book swap last year and Tsavo decided the books brought in were his.  Whenever anyone added a book to the collection, he'd smack his paw down on it with a definite 'Mine!' intent.  He reminds me of Smaug hunkering over his horde of gold.

I have multiple mews.  I won't mention how many because it's officially a couple over the number pictured in the Crazy Cat Lady Action figure. Let's just say 'a few' and leave it at that.

What does this have to do with writing?  Oh, a lot.  Several of my fellow RR authors have talked about the discipline necessary to be a writer, especially when you're juggling full time jobs (I am), a relationship (yup), things like exercise (Zin checks out if I don't give her an hour walk as a minimum), and kids (none of those, but did I mention those cats?  I completely agree; discipline is absolutely required to finish a book/story/screenplay and whether you produce 5,000 words a day or 500, the important thing is committing to the time to do it.

Which leads me to my point here. Distractions are a part of writing if you are not lucky enough to have that ideal writer's haven.  You know, like the ones written up in coffee table books with names like  'The Ideal Writer's Haven.' A friend of mine hit it big with a screenplay and now has a little guest cottage type deal in back of her main house, a retreat where she can shut out the rest of the world.  And yes, you can color me green with envy, but it's tempered by the fact she earned it and deserves it.  But still...green.

Most of us don't have that sort of ideal creative space.  So we create our own little writer's nook, be it in a spare room, a coffee house, or just our favorite comfy spot in the house. Maybe we light candles, put on music... Whatever it takes to get in that zone.  But if you have kids (or cats), you can't always shut them out and sometimes you just have make due.  For instance, right now I'm sitting in my favorite rocking chair, MacBook on a pillow on my lap...and one of my cats on my lap above the pillow. It's not the easiest way to work. I've tried putting her down several times.  But she wants attention, she wants it now, her 'daddy' won't do, it has to be Mom.

A few minutes ago two of my little darlings got into a fracas, emitting the kind of howls normally only heard on Wild Kingdom or in bad vampire movies when the sexy vampire gal gets staked and lets the world know about it.  No blood shed, just a lot of fuss and fuming.  Two of the younger ones have a constant game of hockey going on, the puck being a wine cork, and the thundering of paws sounds more like the thundering of a passing herd of elephants.  Large portions of Succubusted and Ripping the Bodice were written to such accompaniment. And sometimes it was Just. Really. Irritating. But I worked through it and didn't use the distractions as an excuse to call it quits at any given time.  I might have used it as an excuse to take a brief break and get a glass of wine for Zin...but then I got back to it.

What's my real point?  Eh, I just wanted to post the picture of Tsavo with the books. O

Tags: distractions | discipline | writers havens | cats

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