Deadline Mania
By 9:00 a.m. today, Demon Baby and I had been to The Dollar Store (my new favorite--do you know EVERYTHING is a dollar? Mine even carries name-brand cereal and juices.), the grocery store (because the Dollar Store is wonderful, but they don't have produce), and answered 987 questions from Demon Baby, 986 of which began with WHY? WHY did a bird poop on our car? WHY did someone leave a penny on the ground? WHY does our cart have a wobbly wheel? WHY doesn't the grocery man FIX the broken wheel? WHY? WHY? WHY?
By 9:00 a.m., I felt brain dead.
However, the early-morning trip was brought on by the fact that my poor family has been living under deadline mania for approximately two months. Just back-to-back deadlines. I even worked about 6 hours a day on vacation while my cousins took the kids to the beach. And by the end of this particular bout of Deadline Mania, I looked in my fridge this morning and Demon Baby had no orange juice. I can assure you, a nuclear explosion would be quieter than a Demon Baby with no orange juice (his favorite). Laundry isn't done. Beds aren't made. My kids have been living on this. In short, I surveyed my world and it's not pretty.
So today is Recovery from Mania Day. I will do my favorite thing. Putter. I will slowly restore order to my house. My kids will have orange juice and a nice spinach salad for lunch. I will try to recover until the NEXT Deadline Mania.
So writers . . . since none of you have a Demon Baby to scream at you that there's no orange juice, thereby waking you up to just HOW out of control your life has gotten, how do you know when you've been too self-absorbed and too busy with writing so that the rest of your life is looking sloppy around the edges? Or do all of you do the dance between real life and writing life perfectly. And if you DO . . . what is your secret?
By 9:00 a.m., I felt brain dead.
However, the early-morning trip was brought on by the fact that my poor family has been living under deadline mania for approximately two months. Just back-to-back deadlines. I even worked about 6 hours a day on vacation while my cousins took the kids to the beach. And by the end of this particular bout of Deadline Mania, I looked in my fridge this morning and Demon Baby had no orange juice. I can assure you, a nuclear explosion would be quieter than a Demon Baby with no orange juice (his favorite). Laundry isn't done. Beds aren't made. My kids have been living on this. In short, I surveyed my world and it's not pretty.
So today is Recovery from Mania Day. I will do my favorite thing. Putter. I will slowly restore order to my house. My kids will have orange juice and a nice spinach salad for lunch. I will try to recover until the NEXT Deadline Mania.
So writers . . . since none of you have a Demon Baby to scream at you that there's no orange juice, thereby waking you up to just HOW out of control your life has gotten, how do you know when you've been too self-absorbed and too busy with writing so that the rest of your life is looking sloppy around the edges? Or do all of you do the dance between real life and writing life perfectly. And if you DO . . . what is your secret?
Labels: deadlines
posted by Erica Orloff at 9:38 AM
28 Comments:
In my life, it's more like Dead Mind Mania. When I don't have deadlines, my mind goes blank. The less I have to do, the less I get done. Self-imposed deadlines work less well for me than external ones. I can have nothing to do and still nothing gets done, specifically laundry. Instead of doing what I need to do, sometimes I do nothing when I have many hours to do much.
It's not good and part of the craziness of this summer.
My daughter is away for 4 weeks which leaves me at home with a 16 year old son and 3 dogs.
I'm not juggling my free time well at all. I want to be busier...but have trouble creating busy-ness for myself.
My goal was to finish my WIP this summer, and it's no where near complete. I spend a lot of time feeling bad about that. And certainly one cannot do laundry when one is kicking oneself in the arse.
hehe I LOVE OJ. Gah, now I'm craving it, but I'm hungry so I'm trying to think what I can eat with it that won't taste weird.
Yeah sometimes I get way too immersed. I'm approaching that point right now. When I get there, I realize that I start to feel a little depressed or anxious around the edges because I haven't been getting out with the three dimensional people as much.
This weekend I'm really going to put the writing and the planning aside, to just BE. Just read, and watch movies, and spend time with my husband.
I need that seven-figure advance so I can afford a housekeeper and a gardener. A chauffer would be nice...
I'd love to send you my oranges. I have 2 very healthy trees that produce great juicers and I'm allergic. The wife likes it, but not that much.
When I can no longer find anything on my desk, including my desk and my frustration level with the clutter rises enough, then I stop and try to clear some space. I got to the point of shoving it all in a box next to my desk before I decided I had to do something with the box.
Now I'm caught up on going through the mail and the filing (put all but important papers in a box and date it 7 years from now for recycling).
Today I am off work, my desk is relatively clean and I have time to write without huge distractions. Feels so good!
I usually know when my head explodes. Very messy.
Umn... demon baby and my littlest guy sound related... and then mine are all relatively young (10, 8, & 6) so I don't get to just write and not do any of the real world stuff - though I'd looooove to. My laundry is always behind, the kitchen is never clean - I've cleaned it, but then someone comes right in and there are more plates to be washed, etc.
I'm trying to find a way to balance it, but so far what happens is when I get immersed with the kids, I get very little writing done... when I get really into the writing the kids get far less of me than they probably deserve...
Balance shmalance... I figure I'm a weeble... I'll keep wobblin' but at least I won't fall down... or, erm, stay down anyway.
(I did stop in yesterday but didn't comment - have faith, Erica, I'm sending you good thoughts for the rough patch)
My house is an utter mess. I'm trying to declutter, but... deadline mania is pretty much a constant. When I'm not teaching, I'm at Borders writing. So... there's only about an hour left in the day, and I tend not to spend it cleaning. Showers and eating, you know. They take up the rest of the time.
I need to declutter, badly. When I'm writing long hours, everything takes a back seat. Let's see, I feel guilty when hubby is home and I'm upstairs working. When I haven't seen the grandkids for a few days cause I'm working. Sometimes it all works out, sometimes I just swim. LOL.
And Demon baby sounds magical! I love his curiosity, Erica.
amy:
I am a world-class procrastinator, so sometimes Deadline Mania is simply how I get things done. So I relate!
E
zoe:
Enjoy the weekend. That sounds heavenly. Want to take a Demon Baby off my hands for a day or two?
;-)
E
Jude:
You and that 7-figure advance!! LOL!
E
sarah:
I love that sense of accomplishment when I deal with things I've put off. But the dreading it keeps me from doing it for SO long, the projects seems monumental.
E
Mark:
LOL!!! Yes, my head has exploded once or twice. Quite messy, indeed.
E
merry:
Thanks for your good wishes and thoughts. I wish I could put my finger on my feelings better, but I think it's mostly a chronic level of stress from some things . . . and with no let-up, I sometimes get into these patches where I just struggle a bit.
As for your Weeble nature--I totally relate!!! That's it--Deadline Mania, kids eat Ramen. Super Mom . . . no writing done.
E
spy:
I know. I reduced myself to buying those yogurt smoothies so that I was SORT of taking time to eat--by drinking my meal on the run.
E
ladonna:
Magical? Or just Demonic? I don't know sometimes. ;-) Actually, though I was exhausted by all his questions, I was loving the conversation.
E
hehehe Erica, while I don't want kids of my own, a kid for a weekend every now and then might be fun. I'd rather rent, than own. :P Demon baby sounds like a funny kid. Reminds me somehow of Fudge from the Judy Blume books.
zoe:
LOL! Yes. Fudge for sure.
He's been in time-out six times today. In the Time-out Court, this kid has been sentenced to permanent probation.
E
Your family being dependent on your income makes the need for your writing to come first of paramount importance. When you are writing, you are doing it for them. For me it's different. I have a full time job as does my husband and the writing comes second because it produces only a little income so the balance is completely different. Hence, my priorities are different to yours. I can consider my writing as an indulgence and you can't. Mind you, Demon Baby probably doesn't agree with any of this. He comes first, second and third. LOL.
Oh, wow! I've seriously been out of the cyber-loop! Last time I saw Jude he was hoping for a xis figure advance! If I've been gone long enough to miss a million dollar leap in inflation, obviously my house/brain/life are in worse shape than I feared. And I don't even have a deadline!
What can I say, Lainey? Gas is four bucks and I spent a lot of time on the rewrite. ;)
Looks like someone is gonna have to spring the DB outta time-out! LOL. Where's Spy Kids when ya need them?
Well, since my house is almost always a mess (unless my husband or I finally gets sick of it and cleans the place up) that's certainly no indicator. I'd have to say that when I put things off for too long, I start to feel this well of panic bubbling up inside of me, and in order to still it I must put my writing aside and just have a getting-things-done day (or several). Once the panic has subsided somewhat, I can usually drown it for a while and get back to writing.
suzanne:
Nope. He doesn't agree with any logic as to where my priorities might lie on any given day.
E
Lainey:
LOL! Well, here in America the dollar just ain't going as far as it used to.
E
ladonna:
LOL! Prison break!
E
caryn:
Wow, do I relate to that!!!
E
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