Am I working, or wasting time???

For the past little while there has been something that has really been causing me to go “hmmm” A LOT. The matter in question is whether or not writing my daily blog is good for my “career” or am I just wasting time? I don’t have a clear cut answer for this question either. Some days I feel really great about all the online reading I do, often scouring my twitter feed/BBC news/CBC news etc, etc, is what gives me my ideas for daily musings. Other times it’s simply wandering around through my daily commitments that provides me with writing fodder. But, I have to confess to all of you, as much as I enjoy having my website and musing out loud to all of you, I feel as though the rest of my life is significantly less productive. I feel this way, but I wonder if it really is the truth? How do I gauge if all my time on social media, and the couple of hours that it takes me every single day to post to my site, are any help to my end game? An end game that hopefully lands me a literary agent, and sees me selling millions of copies of all the books about the people who are currently living inside my head, for free.

I love spending time with all of you on social media, and sharing all my thoughts and opinions with you via my blog, I really do. The only thing I need to figure out how to do better is manage my time that is supposed to be being devoted to my ACTUAL WRITING. I’m only two short chapters away from completing my non-fiction book, which is not bad. Basically how that breaks down is two full days of writing. No problem, and totally doable. But on the other hand, are the edits for my fiction book, and I don’t even want to type out loud to you how long I think it will take me to edit Black Picket Fence. It’s the ongoing struggle, build a brand while doing the work; not an easy thing to achieve.

You see it’s not enough to just write books, as a writer I must have people already curious and interested in buying said books once they’re published, and in this day and age I cannot rely entirely on a publisher to put my work at the top of their “get it out there” list. So some groundwork must be put down. Which is what I’m attempting to do with my daily musings, but at what cost? What good is it to do research for hours every day, to find something worthwhile to post about, and then a couple of hours to write, edit, find a photo and then post, if I never get any “actual writing” done? And that’s only have the job, once it’s posted I have to engage on social media, before I know it it is time to cook dinner, and then bed, only to get up and start all over again the next day. Don’t get me wrong, it is fun, I love my blog, and all of you, but what I don’t love is the weight of having two books in desperate need of my attention, but having no time to sit down and do the work to complete them.

Ahhhhhh!!!! I’m truly overwhelmed with how to juggle it all. I’m not kidding you, I really am. And now, as of tonight, YB is wrapping on Murdoch, which means all the hours of the day that I did have to myself will now have my partner back in the mix, asking questions like; “What are you up to today?” “Want to go to breakfast?” “When will you be done?” The dance of becoming a couple begins once again, and usually for at least a month, if not more, my work falls completely by the wayside…and I am SOOOOOOOO CLOSE to finishing the non-fiction book. I mean I know it’s entirely possible that I could get it done before Mikaela gets home on December 15th, I also know that I must shut everyone and everything else out to do it. My desire is to get the non-fiction book done, enjoy my holidays, get my ass back to Cali where I will then sit and re-write Black Picket Fence the entire month of January while Yannick films in Vancouver, and my daughter works every day from 8-6. I know this is a realistic timeline, it is in no way shape or form overly ambitious, and even though I know this, here I sit, panicked as to whether or not I can juggle all the plates; banking, bills, month ends, laundry, groceries, managing two homes, my three 4 legged kids, my three 2 legged kids, my daily blog, AND finish writing two books.

Good Lord give me the energy, and more importantly the mental focus to just get my non-fiction book done this coming week. Maybe, just maybe if all of you put it out into the universe that I will in fact find the hours that I need to sit down and get it done, magically our power in numbers will make it my reality. So if you don’t mind helping a girl out, I would truly appreciate it. Thanking you in advance.

Love, Shantelle

xo