Balance

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?