Manic Monday: What I've learned About Prioritizing...

Art from Dezzan on Deviant Art

It's funny how you know things, you know to do them I mean but then when push comes to shove you find yourself all over the place. I've been finding myself in that position as an author lately. Do I set up the posts for the week on this blog, or do I work on my current novel, or do work on promotion. Sometimes figuring it all out when you're an author is a pain, and sometimes even when you do know, you can still mess it up. In my case, I just have so much on my plate with a day job and being the main bread winner that I have a tendency to start working on one thing and then get distracted by something as mundane as needing to go to the grocery store, or eating for example. So last night I just sort of stopped and had a think about this whole thing. The fact is I have way too much to do to fit all the things I technically should be doing into one day, so I have to learn to prioritize better than I have been.

Here's what worked for me this weekend:

1. I made myself the priority. I don't often do that, in fact I often put everything and everyone else as the priority which while nice for those other people  is not so nice for me. Though I do love to do stuff for other people and I get much out of doing so from an emotional standpoint. However, I do it too much, which probably has a lot to do with the thinking of Western society and how women are always supposed to be the givers. This weekend I gave to myself, and interestingly enough I got a lot done. Including setting up the posts for this blog for the week! Yeah me!

2. I did yoga first thing this morning. Boy did that feel great. I get very tense in my upper shoulders neck and upper back from sitting at a desk all day during the week, and then even more so on the weekend while I work on my novels or blog, or create 3D art which again requires a computer. I know I spend far too much time at a computer in fact so this morning instead of sitting down at one first thing, I did about 45 minutes of yoga stretching. It made a huge difference. My stress levels went way down, and my upper back and neck aren't as sore. Hmmmm...maybe I should do this on most mornings? Note to self: More yoga! LOL

3. I stopped eating junk. You know the weird thing is and I think this should be wrong, but junk is not only cheaper than the healthy stuff like fruit and vegetables but it's easier to sling in your lunch bag and take off to work with. The bad thing is that when the sugar high is over, it sucks. You feel horrible, or at least I do. I actually feel more tired and worse when I've been eating junk all day. So, another note to self, no more junk or at least much less of it.

4. I actually wrote 1678 words today on my novel!! Whoo hoo!! That more than anything I think felt great! So often I put this off for doing other things which is why I haven't had anything new available, and just re-pubs in the last year. Life really got in the way over the last four years. But now I aim to change that. My books are with a promotions company HeartFelt Promos which is going to take a huge amount of pressure off me in that respect, and I'm with a really great publishing company that I totally respect. So,  that will leave me more time to write.

So, if you're like me and you're having a hard time prioritizing my advice is to put yourself first as often as you can. I realize sometimes you can't, hubby's and kids get sick, or you have obligations to fulfill, but as often as possible make you the priority. It makes a huge difference and you'll find you get more writing done. Oh, and the second thing, make YOUR writing a priority, even if you're only writing 500 words a day. I surprised myself when I wrote 1678, I'll bet you can surprise yourself too!