In late November, before taking our winter vacation to Spain, I wrote about being “stuck” in my writing – not writer’s block mind you – just stuck.
Changing your environment allows a person to also change their perspective and gives space and time for the subconscious to do it’s work.
Spain afforded me that opportunity.  Cruising over the Atlantic ocean at 35,000 feet, the hum of the engines and the subtle vibration of the plane allow the mind to drift off.  I asked myself – what has changed?  I have never been “stuck” when drafting any of my three novels.

In that semi-conscious state one word rose to the surface of my conscious – editing.  Because I signed up for the Weekender with Laurel Yourke I concentrated my writing energy to polishing the first four pages of my manuscript.  More importantly I allowed myself to be critiqued to five people who have never published a single word.

Their edits to those four pages were scathing and cruel.  One member of the group commented:  “I hate the whole paragraph on page four”.  She broke a cardinal rule of critique groups – make only constructive, helpful comments and do not be mean.
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Never before have I done any self-editing or allowed anyone to beta read or edit until the entire manuscript is complete.  I didn’t follow my own path.
The result – I was stuck and I did it to myself.  The solution turns out to be simple, ignore all the comments from the Weekender, stop editing and just get on with the story.  I have the arc of the entire story deep in my conscious – I merely need time.

Life balance has become more important to me and being retired I feel that I have more choices in life.  I came late to writing, I published my first novel, Murphy’s Troubles in 2013 when I was 62 years old.
 
While working I promised myself that with retirement I would change focus to living a creative life with the goal of publishing fiction.  I was raised a WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) – a description no longer in use – so I had responsibilities to family and should not and could not afford to pursue a creative life.
 
Over the years I have unburdened myself of the WASP shackles and follow a path that I create myself.  Writing is important to me and gives me the freedom to unleash my imagination.  Some devote themselves to writing alone.  I can’t do that, I would be out of balance if I did.
 
We all have many roles and I enjoy quite a few, I love being a grandparent and am fortunate to have strong bond with my four grandchildren.  It is important to me to volunteer in my community.  By volunteering I want to contribute to building and maintaining the fabric of my community.  I host a local radio show – My World and Welcome to It twice a month on 103.5 FM The Sun Radio.  I lead discussions for the Library’s Afternoon Book Club.  I am a member of both the Friends of the Sun Prairie Public Library and the Friends of the Sun Prairie Media Center.  I am the President of the Board of Trustees for the Dane County Library Service and the Sun Prairie Public Library.  Each of these is another expression of me.

I weave my creative writing life into these various activities by in two ways.  First, I give myself an overall goal – currently my goal is to publish my fourth novel in April 2021 because it is national public library month.  Second, I give myself a weekly writing goal of 1595 words a week. That would result in an 83,000 word draft manuscript in 12 months, which I believe is respectable.   Many writers pump out that many words in a day.  I can’t.  
This is balance for me.  I believe everyone should take the time to figure out what balance is like in their lives.
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Let me know – how do you find balance in your life?