How do you mark productivity?
I find the older I get, the less I seem able to tell if I'm really getting much done.
Before, it was pretty straightforward. Clean house. No dishes to wash. Scene complete. Kid full. Husband asleep. That was a very good day.
Now, things are very different.
My house might as well be a psychotic dry erase board in reverse. I clean, move to the next spot and when I look up, the last place I cleaned now has two or three kids in it, spilling something on it. The dishes are never put away, exactly. They're on a merry go round between the dishwasher and the sink. I know I cleaned them, but I'm the only one in on the secret. Getting past that knot in the scene, that one bit of unworkable dialogue, is now worth days of relief, much less a whole scene. The kid is growing and never seems full. Neither do the new siblings. Now husband falls asleep on couch whether I'm trying to help him relax or not.
Some days, I gotta ask myself if it's been a productive day or not.
I'm a girl who likes benchmarks. I love progress. I love looking over what I've done and feeling good about it. It could be that I need accolades. But maybe I just need to know I'm not spinning my wheels uselessly. In a biz like publishing, there's a million and one ways to spin useless wheels and lose months, if not years. So, it can get scary quick.
What about you? Do you ever look back over the previous day or week and ask yourself if you've satisfied your inner slave driver? What do you do when the answer is no?
Dee, I think you're at that
Dee, I think you're at that point in your life when you're never going to get it all done in a day, at least not without making yourself a little crazy and a lot exhausted! Your focus right now is right where it should be--on your babies. If you accomplish anything beyond keeping up with diaper changes, feedings, naps, laundry, emergency management, and getting food into the house, you're doing amazing! Just remember; it will get easier! The fact that you can do any writing at all is wonderful (great new cover, BTW!).
I remember those days--and survived them :)
I never had twins, but everything you wrote about struck a chord with me. Yes, I've been there, done that. I was in the kids/dishes/laundry/didn't I just do this? fog for years. The breakthrough for me was when my youngest hit 3. Suddenly I had some freedom. The house was still a wreck, but now the kids could help unwreck it. And adding to the mix, I was a perfectionist. The kids/dishes/laundry thing cured my perfectionism. Dee, believe it or not, someday this treadmill will shift gears and slow down. Good luck!
Delegating and Letting Go
I think sanity comes down to these two things. Do what you can, delegate some stuff (obviously the girls are too young, but Moo and hubby can wash their own plates -- tell them I said so, LOL -- and let the rest go. :)
It is frustrating when things pile up, and I know that even without kids, and I hate the spinning wheels thing, especially with writing, where you feel like you've been working, working, and getting no where, and you're right, that's scary -- especially with all the info on the net about building careers, etc always breathing down your neck and everyone telling you where you should be, or what you should be doing, etc. And to that, you just have to say, enough.
The only things that matter are that you are happy with what you're doing. You define what progress is, don't let it be defined from the outside (I know, I've had to teach myself this, and still learning...) though I hate to say it, because it's cliche, but it's also true, the writing that seems like spinning your wheels is leading you somewhere, and sometimes, if it's moving slower, you may end up going farther than the folks who seem to be rushing ahead. Just have faith and keep working away, even if it is one bit at a time... sometimes that's all we can manage, but what matters is that you are doing it.
hugs
Sam
Yay Sam---but it's also
Yay Sam---but it's also true, the writing that seems like spinning your wheels is leading you somewhere, and sometimes, if it's moving slower, you may end up going farther than the folks who seem to be rushing ahead
I needed to hear that. I'm holding off writing on my new Super right now, because things need to gel in my head, and I'm just dabbling inother things, going nowhere fast. Actually, I'm thinking this time is going to be valuable. I just needed someone to point it out to me! :)
Well when it comes to
Well when it comes to cleaning I've just accepted that I'll never get it done. When it comes to my writing, I do sometimes feel as if I haven't met my daily goals, and that makes me grit my teeth and vow to do better the next day. But sometimes its very hard, especially during teh summertime when the sun beckons and the husband and child want to go out and play!
J.K. Coi
Immortals To Die For
www.jkcoi.com
Thanks Gang...
I just hate the feeling that the day is totally gone and I've done nothing of much importance. Plus, apparently y'all can tell the babies decided they didn't need sleep last night, lol. Fussy kids have a way of making complete sentences virtually impossible.
I got a giggle on Moo and dishes. The problem is keeping him from doing them. He'll randomly try to wash a dish and put it away, dripping and not actually clean. We find the ice cream scooper with gelled over mint chip in the utensil drawer regularly. The girls on the other hand, will take off their shirts--or diapers--and rub it on the entertainment center after they've poured water on it. I'm still deciding on if this is cute, lol.
May everyone be notably productive today!
PS--Thanks Jeannie! I'm absolutely in love with the cover, lol.