Tuesday, January 25, 2011

How do you do it?

Alicia asked last week how I manage a full time job, Super Spawn, and writing.




Okay, seriously.  Here's a daily line-up of my life.  This is how I do all three:

5:30am - alarm goes off
6:30am - wake Super Spawn
7:00am - Leave the house
7:45am - drop Super Spawn off at preschool
8:00am - work
11:30am - 12:30pm - lunch break where I do something writing related.  Write, revise, blog, research, etc.
5:00pm - leave work
5:30pm - leave preschool with Super Spawn
6:30pm - arrive home
6:30pm - 8:30pm - dinner, bath time, play time, and Super Spawn's bed time.
9:00pm until - this is when I do most of my writing.  I blog, write, revise, read...all of it.  Some nights I might be up until midnight or 1am just to get up and do it all again the next day.

Is my schedule easy?  Heck no.  But it works for me.  It's weird, now that I'm not working like crazy on revisions all night long I'm actually more tired every day.  Go figure.

My weekends are packed to overflowing as well.  Saturdays I'm taking Super Spawn to the movies, bouncing at a play place, or to a museum.  Saturdays that Super Spawn is with his dad, I can be found at a coffee shop working away on my WIP.  Sundays are reserved for cleaning every week.  I read, do laundry, grocery shop...that kind of fun stuff.

That's it.  There's no big secret to my balancing act other than unwavering dedication.  Sure, there are days that I fall off the wagon and just can't do anything, but the next day I'm right back in sync.

What about you guys?  How do you maintain balance?

13 comments:

Erinn said...

My life is pretty much exactly the same. I get most of my work done when Zoey's sleeping. SOmetimes I can get some work done at school but not much. Summers and breaks are a God send. I blog ahead of time which helps too.

Marquita Hockaday said...

Wow- your schedule is pretty intense. Mine is similar--but without Super Spawn :) And on weeknights when I have to get up and teach the next morning, I don't stay up past 11 on purpose. I try to start winding down no later than 10 pm. It's so sad, me and the cuz have so much to do that we squeeze reading time in between commercial breaks of our shows. Like, Erinn we blog ahead of time, too! And, I must admit...I sneak in some writing from time to time when my students are doing individual work.

Holly Hill said...

Erinn, I wish I got summers off! Wait. I only wish I got them off if Super Spawn could still go to school. Because when he's around I get 0 writing done.

Quita, I feel you. I don't watch TV at all. There just isn't enough time for it. lol

Pam Harris said...

Oh my goodness. No TV? *gasps* But then again, I can see how many of my fave TV shows would fall by the wayside once I have kids. I have a parttime job, too, so it seems like I'm always scrambling to squeeze in some writing time. NaNo was really helpful in letting me see that I could write everyday, even if it was just for 10 minutes. Now, am I keeping up with writing everyday? No. I try to do most of my writing on the weekends. I bow down to your time management, however. :)

Holly Hill said...

Pam, it's really just my stubborn hard-headedness coming out. lol I set crazy goals for myself and REFUSE to fail.

Alicia Gregoire said...

Just reading this is reminding me that I have to set a schedule. I had one. Once.

Holly Hill said...

Alicia, schedules are your friend. For real. I would never get anything done if I didn't have a very strict schedule.

Susan said...

Holly, I'm impressed. ::sigh:: My life seems so EASY in comparison.

I wake up at 6, feed the hubby and get him out the door, then I sit at my desk and work until lunch...have a 15 minute lunch...then go back to work until about 6 or 7.

I have a lot of dedication too, but NO DISTRACTIONS or TIME-STEALERS other than my hubby/pets/life... No kid, no full-time job.

Yeah, I'm in awe. You're one kick-butt chica. :)

Holly Hill said...

Susan, Thanks. :) Maybe one day I'll get to bus kiddo off to school and then write all day. That would be freaking amazing.

Sarah said...

Girl, you deserve major kudos. :)

I've got it a bit better. In addition to my teaching job I work retail, but retail hours are a bit slim this time of year... so the time I'd normally be styling people goes towards writing projects. It'll get crazier later on and I'll probably miss the extra time to write. :(

Krista said...

I am impressed and inspired. I'm off to go write myself a schedule. It won't be as scary as yours, as I'm quite certain I couldn't do that.

Yahong said...

For me, my current status in life is just great (seriously, I never want to grow up). As a student, I don't have to manage bills, or send off/take care of kids, and I get the summer off (unless I'm going to some IB summer program). So, I think I'll never get married or have kids. Honestly, I'll be the crazy dog lady.
In other words, I'm avoiding everything you're doing right now. HOLLLY YOU'RE AMAZING!

Holly Hill said...

Yahong, thank you. :) Strict schedules may not look fun, but it's not so bad once you get used to it.

Krista, like I said to Alicia, schedules are your friend. So are short-term goals.

Sarah, thanks :)