Balancing The Juggling Act Of Freelance Writing, A Meme

Sharon Hurley Hall tagged me to write about balance.
In my writing life, I don’t feel like I have much balance lately. It’s been from feast to famine for me and mostly feast although it’s a bit of a Ramen feast sometimes because I get loads of work but a lot of low end stuff so I have a constant trickle of work and a constant trickle of cash but I’d like to up the invoice amounts a tad.
I’m paying my dues though and learning a lot.

Some days, I drag my butt and hate it. Most days I eat it up and love it though and that’s important. Each new assignment brings me a sense of excitement but sometimes when you’re 447 assignments into a 697 assignment long list you just can’t wait to see the end of that sucker! I find balance when I stop and count my blessings and be happy that I have work doing what I love and thankful I didn’t sink that five grand into the medical transcription course I planned on doing when I left my high paying professional ‘suit’ job to be a WAHM because if I had, I’d never have started to live the writer’s dream of being paid to write and my carpal tunnel syndrome would likely be a 10 on the severity scale instead of a 6.5.

I try to spend a few evenings each week with my family watching Survivor or American Idol or a movie. I try to get out a few afternoons a week with my 3 year old for play/story time at the local play center or a walk through the mall or just playing outside.

At the moment I need more balance because I feel run off my feet and stressed out.

Sometimes a bubble bath can do wonders for me and make me feel refreshed and help me find that balance that I crave.

Sometimes exercise is a good thing that helps me find my inner balance and release natural endorphins that give me well being and creativity.

Sometimes an afternoon off or an evening curled up with my husband does the trick or a laugh with the girls does too.

I have my second annual girl’s weekend away coming up in 9 weeks and I am really looking forward to letting loose and being silly for 3 days. We go to a cabin in the woods where there are: -no boys, -no computers, -no calories and a lot of mixed cocktails & comfort foods.

I also like to declutter. It results in a declutter of my workspace and of my mind. That brings a renewed sense of balance sometimes too.

My goal is to find more balance, more time to read and more time to work on my novel. Freelance writing has been a learning curve that has sucked the writing juice out of me for my own creative work so I’m trying to learn to juggle the freelance career so I can pay the bills, find time to self promote/blog/network and find time to write stuff that gets my juices flowing.


Doing all that while keeping the house somewhat tidy, keeping up with family/friends, spending quality time with my kids and nurturing my marriage is a juggling act I haven’t ‘quite’ mastered as of yet.

I tag:
Merryone
Trick Falls
Ed Butts
Lori Chance
inklings