mackknopf | Too Many Shiny Things

As I recently told my friend Lisa Hicks (an oral storyteller in Birmingham whose page you should check out), It's hard to find the time to write seriously (non-legal). I suppose most writers with day jobs have this problem. When I'm at my best, I'm at work. I do a little email at the office, but I try to keep it minimal. So that leaves the evenings late at night, when I'm tired, and the weekends, when I have errands and want to see my friends and whatnot. But I cancelled my TV since I wasn't watching it (I may get Netflix). You would think that would free up some more time, but I just do more reading books and playing on the computer.

My writing projects are:

1) Email correspondence (frequently done, but I never catch up)

2) Thank you notes and actual handwritten letters to close relatives (this is rare, but I have some and they take time)

3) Gaming-related writing, which I'm always behind on. (Updating the web page, writing player handouts, scripting scenarios for adventures, etc.) I only have the two gaming groups, but haven't played anything since the last Vampire horror game! Finding time to schedule with Karyn and company is difficult for the fantasy adventure game, and I've had to cancel a couple of times lately. I've bought a few books on Ebay though, which are fun to read. To clear shelves, I'm going to sell off a few gaming books and donate a box I've culled to the Hoover Library. There are some good quality works that they'll probably put into circulation, along with some which are just library bookstore material.

4. Journal writing for my friends and myself. (Lets me stay in touch with Kareila, which is important, and also provides needed self-analysis.)

5. Blogging for the new public journal here. Still a work in progress. Not sure where this will go, but I wanted to do it, so I am.

6. False Gods, the novel: revising the outline, finishing research, fixing the plot holes (there are at least several big ones which I may talk to you about), redoing the timeline, etc. I'm not actually at the "start writing the draft again" stage because I have done an estimated 40,000+ words of floundering, counting my story bible. I would like to get my ducks in a row lined up first. And of course, FG takes the most brain power to work on...

So what actually gets done? Whatever looks shiniest and most attractive at the moment! Seems like I need to try to work on my priorities...