I am writing these blogs whenever I can find a minute here and there. People have asked how I find time to write daily, or when they have a FT job, or kids, on and on. So I am currently the advice I always give – find every spare minute you can.
That. That is how you write daily. For me though it is these blogs, not books. I miss writing about my characters, I miss offering the advice I do in them, but most days I get exhausted and just go meh. I’ll spend those 5 minutes relaxing, crocheting, responding to Colin or Jeanie, or just zoning out.
I am beginning this after eating lunch. I am finishing my coffee, and fixing to go work on Fury of a Queen. The dogs are acting up as my mother gets up, and the mail is being delivered. A package is coming so I have to go get it. Jeanie just texted too. So I will continue this later.
Annnndddd I’m back at it at 7 pm. I debated being tired and continuing to listen to the YouTube video I was. I found an intelligent young lady named Sydney Watson to listen to. I also have videos I was working through to learn nalbinding. New technique I just learn. Similar to crochet and knitting, you work w yarn and needles, that’s it. Just one needle in this case, but you can make stuff that resembles knitting.
Mila is getting antsy so I may have to switcheroo it up once more and go take her out. I just finished dinner and she knows it. Loves to harass me into taking her out after.
When I didn’t write FT, I would typically write on the weekends. I would write for long chunks, then take a break, continue on. These days I’m so worn out on the weekends that I usually laze more than anything. I try to catch up on other low key things I need to get done.
*pauses to take Mila out*
When I worked on the weekends, doing those long bursts, it was usually anywhere from 5 – 8hrs of writing I would do. I would do about 14,000 – 20,000 words per weekend. Actually fairly simple to what I do now, but now it’s throughout the week, and steady. On the weekends, because I had such long off periods between writing, it was much harder to get my brain back into writing. Much harder to get back into story flow.
Even now I have found that 2 days is my limit. I take the weekend off and by Monday, my mind does actually take a bit of kickstarting. It’s like the old mower I had. Said it was a one pull start, but nope. More so during anything temperature wise 60 and below. If that mower wasn’t warm? Well, I would hurt the muscles in my arm with how many pulls it took. Brother tried to show me up one time only to make me have to harass him about it – he didn’t do it much better!
That’s my brain when I take too much time off. Ideally I would only take one day off from writing, but I have found I am more productive if I take those 2 days off. I’m still in a sweet spot of getting the brain going, and giving it a break. I have learned over time that for me, I need that time-off.
I imagine if I worked at it, I could get myself over time to be okay with pushing a day into the weekend with the writing, but still – brain break. Some may be able to work 24/7. I get burned out on that. If you’ve ever burned yourself out you will understand why I don’t force that.
For those who’ve never experienced it. Imagine you on your most exhausted day. Imagine you at the end of the day before you’re about to slip into bed. That level of “done” inside you? That inability to think clearly, form words? That’s the brain on burnout. Creativity is shut down. You become irritable. Ya wanna cry you’re so exhausted. Many might even figure they are depressed because it is a level of depression. It may just be burn out. Everything in you is done at that point. It takes a long time to recover from that too.
I do admittedly push myself. Harder than I should, but it’s to get a financial buffer. There are things this house needs and my dogs that require $. So I push myself. I shouldn’t. I have no choice. If I did, I may not push myself quite as hard so don’t do what I do unless, as with myself, you are in a tight financial place. Then *zips mouth shut*. I say nothing to that, I get it. I only warn because I deal with a lot of wrist pain, back pain, headaches, and am exhausted quite a lot. Rare I’m candid about how bad it can get, but as with most jobs, it is not easy on the body.
*pauses as my mother needs something*
What was that quote? Writing is easy fro everyone but a writer. Sooooo true. On the mental too.
I know full well how hard to, where that lines well. It’s why I mention constantly that I do challenges. I adjust my routine, I adjust how long I write, what I write, how I write. I have gone from all day weekends to one hr daily, M-F, early in the morning. My writing time is 10-11am. That follows my workout at 9 or so. 11 am is dog time and house cleaning, then 12 lunch, and back to writing (editing or formatting) from 1 – 4pm. Sometimes up to near 5 pm. I have learned that 10-11am block is my ultimate. The sweet spot. Just as the one hour of writing. I am excited to write, but I leave off before I’ve grown exhausted. So when I come back to the writing, I am excited to see what’s gonna happen.
Today it was a place where I literally didn’t have a clue about where the story would go until today. The majority of today’s writing was completely spontaneous so I had no clue that Louis was going to do what he did. Not after treating Nala the way he did yesterday. I didn’t know Nala would send off the riders, or others would come from other cities.
That is what I get from not writing into the exhausted territory. Much of it does come down to having the right mental space. That can come from music (a lot of the time for me) or silence. The type of music too.
I have been chronicling the music I listen to on Spotify for this story. I end up hitting shuffle on this one, and it gets changed as I find more, or get tired of certain songs, but mostly I just have been hitting shuffle now. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/00GwFtlsadCmTabyNi8Aem?si=B7Rh_7x5ShGMW6PftmY2FQ
It’s 7:45, and my brain is slowly beginning to chug chug chug and stop functioning soooo time to call it quits. Also, read: exhausted. I’m free writing. Just mostly trying to get myself back into daily blogging. Got no plan for em. They’re gonna be random as all heck. Well, I normally am aren’t I?
I opened my contact page back up, and after I hit publish, I will fix my comments again. I think it’s been long enough that I won’t keep getting stuff meant for the other Kim. Haven’t since I shut down my contact page and moderation for my comments, then altered my profiles to show my full name. So hopefully I won’t have to shut anything down again. 😊
Forgive me for any grammar errors, more than normal. Again, just trying to get back into the habit so doing these mostly from my phone. Okay, so far the past 2 have been purely from my phone. Yesterday I began the post while I was on my recumbent bike too. 🙈 Because that my friends, is how one really makes sure to blog.
Random picture of the night. Took this earlier today. Mini rose in front yard.
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If you like this content, consider a small donation.
Donations help me keep the lights on, heat running, food in the belly, and keep my sites going. Even a small donation can go a long way, and I cannot begin to express my gratitude enough for anything you can help with. As a FT caregiver to my elderly mother and older brother who have a lot of health struggles, I am struggling these days. I have a couple tiers up to check out as well if you’d like to sign up for that, instead of a single donation. More will come as I think of stuff, or I get feedback on what I should add.
If you prefer Patreon (more payment options) – http://www.patreon.com/kimberlysueiverson❤️️
Kimberly Sue Iverson - Author 