Monday, February 17, 2014

Enough Already

I could be speaking of the weather. Really, winter, you may exit my neck of the woods anytime now. Not only did you interfere with my recent trip to Boston, you visited a blizzard on us there, and then a surprise white-out conditions on the way home. We managed to have a fun visit but we didn't get to do everything we had planned. Though Boston University did a wonderful job cleaning snow from their walks, just about every other sidewalk was a mess. I think people are just giving up. Winter, you win.

Beacon St. outside my daughter's dorm

Harvard Square

But the 'enough already' I'm wondering about is the many different things I've taken on in the last year. I've joined in a group blog and signed up for more blog hops and fests in the past six months than I have all put together before then. Not only have I signed up for the A to Z blogging challenge but I volunteered to be a minion this year. And I signed up for a few online classes. And now I'm considering taking on another duty with my one writing group. I don't think it demands a lot of time, but it's still another responsibility. All these things are about the writing business but none of them are helping me get words on a page. So I'm wondering if I'm doing too much.

I hope you'll join me tomorrow at Your Daily Dose as Robin host me in a brief discussion where I'll talk about how we define science fiction. Join me, please.

Don't forget to visit the Monday post on IWSG blog for some new, great advice.

So how many 'other' writing things are you involved in besides the writing part? Have you ever held an office in a writing group? Have you had enough of winter yet?

15 comments:

Pat Hatt said...

Winter needs to go along with any trace of snow. Best way to stay ahead when you have a lot of stuff on the go is to just remain in front of the 8 ball, use every trick you can

Madeline Mora-Summonte said...

I've been struggling a lot lately with writing vs writing work. I need to work on that balance.

Hang in there! Spring is around the corner!

Maria Zannini said...

Re:...the many different things I've taken on in the last year.

:) That's how it starts when you retire. It took me several years to figure out I was sabotaging myself with so many tasks that I finally let go of many of them.

I can breathe again! LOL.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Sorry the storm messed with your trip.
I know the feeling! You know what I'm doing online - add my offline world and I may have overstepped what I can humanly accomplish, clones or not.
Will definitely visit Robin tomorrow!

Julie Flanders said...

I can relate to that feeling. I've got back on the bloghops lately as I was feeling overwhelmed. But then I miss the blogging interaction so it's hard to find a balance.

It really does feel like people have just given up when it comes to winter. This has sure been a doozy.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Three snows in five weeks is more than enough winter for me.

I've been self-employed for 15 years now and I have no idea how I had time for a job.

Jay Noel said...

St. Louis has been slammed too. I think everything that hits us moves east towards you guys.

Today, we have thunder-freezing rain. It's insane. You could go ice skating on our driveway.

Jemi Fraser said...

It's been busy up here too. I've backed away from blogfests, hops and the AtoZ. It's been very busy and life keeps throwing those curveballs our way :)

Boston looks pretty - we've still got lots of snow too :)

The Happy Whisk said...

Hope your catchup day goes well today. Yes, the blue snowflakes, I can't help myself. You missed it, whilst you were away, I blew up Tim's blog in true Valentine Day style. Hearts, new girly banner, girly font. Just a lot of fun.

Hope you have a killer week. Thanks for stopping by and boogie boogie.

mshatch said...

In addition to my own blog, I share a blog (Unicorn Bell) with a bunch of other writers. As for winter...I am so done with it but I hear it's not done with us yet - snow tomorrow. Yay.

Heather R. Holden said...

Wow, you have quite a bit on your plate! I'm always afraid of doing too much, which is why I never sign up for things like A-to-Z, no matter how tempting some of it is. But then sometimes I think I don't do enough and should force myself to participate more...heh. Good luck balancing everything and finding time to squeeze in writing, too!

Dana said...

I'm done with winter—definitely. ☺

Shannon Lawrence said...

Oy, I think I do way too much for writing groups and such that isn't helping with my writing. I did step down from the A-to-Z this year. As hard as it was, I have to strip what I'm doing outside of writing down to the minimum. I stepped down as Flash Fiction Chair for one writing group I'm in. I've sent out notice to stop another position I held in another writer's group, hopefully by May. That leaves being a Director of Non-Conference events for the same group I'm stepping down from another position in. Last month I put in 121 volunteer hours in just the one writer's group. Something's gotta' give. That, plus two small children, and I realized I'd buried myself in work. I'm just not very good at not working in what I see as a classic type of work (as in, versus writing). I need a mental change that looks at my writing as being as worthwhile as putting in hours to help others. KWIM?

Good luck as a minion! It's a great group of people, and so much fun.

The Warrior Muse

Ava Quinn said...

I've been vice president and president of our writing group. President took up much of my writing time since it was a bylaw rewrite bruhaha year.

And I've had enough of winter as well. We've added on 2 and a half days to the end of the Urchins' school year already.

Glad you made it back safely from Mass.

Robin said...

I am just getting to the Monday posts. Yesterday was unplanned insanity that wreaked its own brand of havoc.

I feel like I haven't written anything on my WiP in FOREVER. Though, it's only been a couple of days.

Lastly, I am really glad I live in FL. Everyone north of us has had it rough.