I’m really trying to find my rhythm. Between writing, editing comics, editing for CBR and any consulting that comes in, I’m all over the map at any given times. My schedule, if you can call it that, is in shambles. I have no sense of routine or consistency, which definitely affects my work. Right now there are no fewer than 10 actionable items on my To-Do list.
My routine currently goes as follows:
- Wake up as early as possible
- Worry about what’s on the To-Do list, money, what needs to be written
- Try to write
- Put out fires (AKA answering email and doing anything that results in American cash money dollars)
- Try to write
- Look for work
- Try to write
- Think about blogging, remember it doesn’t pay
- Try to write
- Waste time
- Try to write
- Dodgeball/gym/life
- Try to write
- Go to sleep as late as possible
Of course, I’d be lying if I said every “Try to write” involved more than me musing, “I should try to write” before inserting a giant “BUT…” and finding something seemingly more productive. I’m getting more writing done the last couple months than usual, and just turned in a first draft of a creator-owned book to my artist and co-creator, but I still don’t feel anywhere near productive. And I’m still not any closer to knocking out a screenplay, though after a talk with Hill I’m pretty sure this current idea, once broken, will find its way to finished.
My biggest hurdle is the whole “Creative On Demand” struggle. My focus is never in one place, and all I have to blame is life and needing to do 12 different things at any given time. It’s not facebook or twitter or video games, though none help. It’s the fact that I don’t have any regularity (fiber helps) and can’t seem to find a way to cheat a normal routine into my hectic schedule.
Hell, I was supposed to go to sleep between 9:30 and 10pm tonight and I’m typing this at a quarter to midnight after spending two hours on the phone doing tech support type stuff on two different SlingBoxes. Unexpected, nonessential, but it’s tough to say no to family. And I think I had been delaying that phone call for the better part of three months.
Creative people, how do/did you set your routines? How do you stick by them?