Budgeting Time

I often joke about working three jobs. One - my actually recognized profession that pays the bills: admin work in a beautiful secondary school. Two - the one that keeps me alive, basically: chronic illness management. Meal preps, workouts, rest, sauna, bath time... Anything to push that next flare-up forward as far as possible. Three - the one that both safeguards and nourishes my mental health : writing...and editing...and promoting my works...and making this website...and obsessing over cover art... We'll meet in the middle here and call it author shenanigans (just because it's an Oreo of a word).

It's a lot of balls in the air for one person; I'll admit to that much. Therefore, I’ve started budgeting my time. Hardcore as it may sound, it's far from it. If this fairly new practice were an AI, I'd program it with one major goal: being kind to myself. Whenever I get frustrated with not finding enough time to fill those pages on my screen, I stick to a few of these pseudo-mantras. The world is not going to end of I don't hit at least 1,000 words today. My storyline won't start decomposing if I let that first draft collect some more dust on my iCloud before editing. Struggles are a vital part of my process. And my favorite Lady Gaga oneliner: Honor your vomit. After all, there might be Oreos floating around in it.