Sunday, August 21, 2011

Overwhelmed

My office is a mess. This is, partly, because I walk in here, sit down at the computer and begin to work on whichever project is on deck. This is, partly, because there are so many projects rotating to the top of the pile:

  • Memoir revision (and coming up with a workable—according to my agent—subtitle)
  • The novel I've decided to revise as a sort of break from the unrelenting me-ness of the memoir and as a way to explore specific issues of craft
  • A ghostwriting project that I'm enjoying working on
  • Syllabi and lesson plans and reading so I can come up with lesson plans that make some sort of sense to me and, more important, my students
  • Freelance projects
Yes, it's too much. But what do I not do? Clearly the novel is the thing that could be set aside. I don't want to, though, for so many reasons—it's fun and it is, I think, teaching me much about writing that can be applied in other areas. Plus, the novel and the memoir make me feel like a writer.

I guess the thing to do is to clean the office. The whole thing makes me cranky.


4 comments:

tinawrites said...

Ah, and therein lies the rub. If you're cleaning the office, you're not writing. If you're writing, the office mess overshadows any possibility of pure joy in writing...you've got too much to do that is staring you in the face.

Best bet, take your laptop somewhere else to write. Time period yourself for both writing and cleaning. That's the only thing that is helping me right now. It does work!

Pat O'Connor said...

I have a friend who says if you are overwhelmed, take it one whelm at a time. I'm pretty sure you'll figure out how to get it done, but you must get ride of crankiness first! Go to your happy place. :-)

Phil said...

I have the perfect solution: start writing a secind novel.

Elizabeth Hilts said...

That is the perfect solution. That, or get a virus.