Thursday, June 7, 2012

Armchair BEA: Balancing Life and Blogging

So, I really don't have much of a story about my writing going beyond the blog. I kind of keep that closed here. I've had a couple chances to review for other sites, but I decided not to go there - this is a passion of mine and I didn't want to be confined to certain books and deadlines. The other option for today was to talk about an aspect of the blog or life that is separate for books. And, my life is pretty much books. BUT outside the blog - I do go to school. Lately, the balance of school and blogging has come up quite a bit, so I thought I would talk about the way I work out that balance.

This is actually as much of a post for myself as it is to help others in my position. Fall semester I was taking grad courses and teaching college composition and research writing for the first time. And blogging. And occasionally I actually hung out with my friends. I never consciously thought about how I was balancing all these things. I just did.

Now I'm thinking about it again. I took a semester off and now I'm back into the swing of things. I've begun (kind of) working again on my thesis and the reading list (which consists of knowing a 10 works of literature - including Beowulf, Moll Flanders, and Invisible Man to name a few - inside and out). Plus, I will also be attending the University of Denver Publishing Institute this summer and I have a lot of work to do before I get there. So trying now to figure out how I'm going to balance between my Master's, the publishing work, working at the bookstore, and trying to keep up on the blog - my head is spinning a bit. And I NEED to figure out a plan- because other wise I'll find myself drowning.

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The first thing I'm going to do is SET DEADLINES. I've never had to set my own deadlines - I've always been at the mercy of professor or university deadlines. Now I have to start scheduling when I need to have certain parts of my work done. This is my first plan of action - to print out an empty calendar and write down when I need things done.

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And the second piece of advice I'd give myself is DON'T PROCRASTINATE. But honestly, this isn't realistic for me. I've gotten slightly better at this, but only slightly. I am a procrastinator and such habits are ingrained deeply. So here's my plan to fix this. When I set those deadlines. I'm going to set them a day or two earlier than they need to be set. If it's written down I'm likely to adhere by it. So if I shoot for a couple days earlier, then I should get things done on time.

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When it comes to the blog - I WILL READ ONLY WHAT I REALLY WANT TO READ. Only the books that seem really worth it to me will be getting any time. With this much work, reading will go back to being relief between my homework - rather than the focus of my time. I'm not going to waste those precious moments on something that's not worth it. If a book isn't working out for me, I won't be afraid to stop reading it.

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I'm going to TAKE THINGS DAY BY DAY. I'm going to start out trying to keep up posting every day on the blog. I've got posts scheduled ahead of time and I should be good for awhile. But if it's ever getting to be too much, I'll adjust to what I can handle.

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I think that's the best thing you can do whenever you're trying to figure out a balance - just remember that you can always ADJUST. Just before you go into it, make sure you HAVE YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHTENED OUT. Know what you can cut back on if it isn't working. Know what you absolutely must need to focus on.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Honestly, it was helpful to myself just to write down what I needed to figure out to get started. I hope this helps some of you out there too, if you're trying to balance blogging with life. And I hope I didn't get too off topic for what we were supposed to post about today.
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Thursday, June 7, 2012

Armchair BEA: Balancing Life and Blogging

So, I really don't have much of a story about my writing going beyond the blog. I kind of keep that closed here. I've had a couple chances to review for other sites, but I decided not to go there - this is a passion of mine and I didn't want to be confined to certain books and deadlines. The other option for today was to talk about an aspect of the blog or life that is separate for books. And, my life is pretty much books. BUT outside the blog - I do go to school. Lately, the balance of school and blogging has come up quite a bit, so I thought I would talk about the way I work out that balance.

This is actually as much of a post for myself as it is to help others in my position. Fall semester I was taking grad courses and teaching college composition and research writing for the first time. And blogging. And occasionally I actually hung out with my friends. I never consciously thought about how I was balancing all these things. I just did.

Now I'm thinking about it again. I took a semester off and now I'm back into the swing of things. I've begun (kind of) working again on my thesis and the reading list (which consists of knowing a 10 works of literature - including Beowulf, Moll Flanders, and Invisible Man to name a few - inside and out). Plus, I will also be attending the University of Denver Publishing Institute this summer and I have a lot of work to do before I get there. So trying now to figure out how I'm going to balance between my Master's, the publishing work, working at the bookstore, and trying to keep up on the blog - my head is spinning a bit. And I NEED to figure out a plan- because other wise I'll find myself drowning.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first thing I'm going to do is SET DEADLINES. I've never had to set my own deadlines - I've always been at the mercy of professor or university deadlines. Now I have to start scheduling when I need to have certain parts of my work done. This is my first plan of action - to print out an empty calendar and write down when I need things done.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And the second piece of advice I'd give myself is DON'T PROCRASTINATE. But honestly, this isn't realistic for me. I've gotten slightly better at this, but only slightly. I am a procrastinator and such habits are ingrained deeply. So here's my plan to fix this. When I set those deadlines. I'm going to set them a day or two earlier than they need to be set. If it's written down I'm likely to adhere by it. So if I shoot for a couple days earlier, then I should get things done on time.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When it comes to the blog - I WILL READ ONLY WHAT I REALLY WANT TO READ. Only the books that seem really worth it to me will be getting any time. With this much work, reading will go back to being relief between my homework - rather than the focus of my time. I'm not going to waste those precious moments on something that's not worth it. If a book isn't working out for me, I won't be afraid to stop reading it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm going to TAKE THINGS DAY BY DAY. I'm going to start out trying to keep up posting every day on the blog. I've got posts scheduled ahead of time and I should be good for awhile. But if it's ever getting to be too much, I'll adjust to what I can handle.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think that's the best thing you can do whenever you're trying to figure out a balance - just remember that you can always ADJUST. Just before you go into it, make sure you HAVE YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHTENED OUT. Know what you can cut back on if it isn't working. Know what you absolutely must need to focus on.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Honestly, it was helpful to myself just to write down what I needed to figure out to get started. I hope this helps some of you out there too, if you're trying to balance blogging with life. And I hope I didn't get too off topic for what we were supposed to post about today.
Posted by at 12:00 AM
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