Friday, September 05, 2008

Sacrifices/cutting back

So at that BPL talk I went to on Monday, Matthew Quick talked about the many sacrifices he and his wife made to nurture his writing-namely, they moved from Phili to outside of Boston to live with his in-law's rent-free so he could work on his writing full time. Talk about a sacrifice!

I'm realizing that I, too, need to make some sacrifices in order to start pushing full steam ahead. Namely, I have to go out less. I spend a lot of time socializing. Some of it really nourishes me. Others of it feels like more of an obligation. And there's a whole range of things in between. So while I'll obviously try to keep the nourishing stuff in, and throw the obligatory stuff out, the overall result is that I won't be going out as much.

I think a reasonable goal is no more than one night out after work per week. And only one planned activity per weekend day. So if I plan to play tennis in the morning, then I don't also have people over for dinner that evening.

I have a sneaking suspicion that not only will I get more writing done, but I'll also enjoy life a tad more when I'm not running all over the place. And hopefully blogging about this plan will keep me honest about sticking with it! Best Blogger Tips

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I think you're totally on to something! I know that when I used to hop from one social engagement to another, it used to almost stress me out more than it was worth. Now that I tend to spend more time at home, I feel much more relaxed -- and happy.

rroberts said...

...and that's partly why i've been such a hermit this summer. i decided to schedule studio time on my calendar and let the social stuff fall in where it could rather than scheduling the social stuff in and letting the studio squeeze where it could. my issue is when you're old and gray do you want to be surrounded by people or paintings? in your case stories. it's a tough one.

Writer Bug said...

It really is a tough one! RR, I have to pick your brain regarding this. How did you schedule your time? Were you strict about it? Like, say you were scheduled to work from 10-2, but something cool came up for 1pm. Would you ditch out early, or just sacrifice the cool event? Did you feel bad saying no to things?

Kerry, did you feel any backlash from the people whose events you stopped going to/started saying no to?