On Writing Deadlines, Commitments, and Balance

      
         When I revamped this blog back in May, I set an unofficial goal for myself to write a new post every two weeks. I chose this goal for two reasons: 1) It’s a well-established tenet of blogging wisdom that keeping a regular schedule and posting a new post at the same time every week or so builds an audience, and 2) a bi-weekly schedule is less demanding than the weekly schedule I kept during the first two years of this blog, from 2011-2013. (In 2013, when my professional priorities changed, I cut back on the frequency of posts.)

            I am proud to say I kept to this bi-weekly schedule from the end of May to the end of July.

            However, I missed last week for a good cause.

            When ye humble writer is not writing, he serves as a humble faculty member at an online university. Once a year, the university holds a graduation ceremony—a true physical affair with all the pomp and regalia. For most faculty members, it’s the only chance we get to meet our students face to face, as they live in widely different parts of the country and even abroad. For students, the ceremony of walking across the stage and receiving a diploma is so important that they will travel great distances to do it. (This year, we had one graduate from the Virgin Islands.) It is a privilege and an honor to attend this event, but it is also long and exhausting.

            That’s where I was last Saturday, and that’s why there was no blog post.

***

            As a rule, I don’t like it when writers make excuses: “I can’t write today because my dog died, I have to do the laundry, my computer crashed,” ad nauseum. Excuses are just that: excuses. The harsh truth is that writing is a business (unless you intend it to be a hobby): clients must be attended to, readers must be fed, and obligations must be met. Extenuating circumstances arise—the car wreck, the illness, the military service—but, barring these or other catastrophic events, writers should get their work done and submit it on time.

            I failed to do that last week. For that, I take full responsibility. Whatever consequences may arise—disappointed readers, disruption in building the audience—are mine to bear. For any who were looking forward to last week’s post, I apologize.

            And yet, they are consequences I chose to face.

            Another harsh truth is that writing is a demanding, arduous task. Yes, it can be fun, but it is always work. One of the most crucial choices a writer must face consists of how to balance writing with other obligations, such as work and family. There is no value in being the writer who spends every free moment chained to a keyboard and cranking out a word count if doing so leads to loss of health and vital relationships. Writers must make choices in how they spend their time. Some things must be sacrificed, including, at times, the writing itself.

***

            When I wrote my previous post of July 22, I mentioned my long-ago professor’s words of warning that studying writing only can be debilitating to writers. I would expand this warning further: Living only the so-called “writing life” can be debilitating to writers. It is not good for us to immerse ourselves so totally in the words of our imagination that we lose touch with other human beings and leisure activities, that we forget what it means to be in this world. If we can’t fully live in this world, we can’t create meaningful worlds for our readers.

            So, go outside. Enjoy the sun. Go for a swim. Call a friend. See a movie outside your genre. Live.

            Your muse will thank you.

Art credit: https://openclipart.org/detail/234997/push-back-time

What's in it for You? Rate this Blog

This blog has now been around for a year and a half.  It consists of 85 posts and counting—at least one per week.  While its purpose (like that of most author blogs) is to promote my brand as a writer, it also exists to share insights and advice on writing in general and, in particular, about writing super-heroes and for young adults.

And, apparently, what I have to say has some value, as over 4600 pageviews have been recorded (some, I know, are probably spambots, but we’ll ignore them).  Fifteen people have joined the site (thank you!) and many of you have left comments on various posts (thank you, too!).   

I’m thrilled to have an audience and one that keeps growing! 

But I can’t take sole credit for this blog’s current or continuing success.  Much of that rests with you. Without readers, there would be no point in doing this.

So here’s your chance to tell me what you like and don’t like about The Semi-Great Gildersleeve. What’s working for you and what isn’t? What would you like to see more of or less of? 

(I’m thinking content-wise, though if you have strong feelings about the graphics or any other aspect of the blog, let me know that, too.)

Some questions to consider:

• What attracted you to this blog in the first place?  How did you find it?
• What posts have been particularly insightful, helpful,  or otherwise memorable?  (No, you don’t have to look them up.  Just tell me what you remember.)   Have any been cringeworthy?
• Are the posts too long, too short, too diffuse in terms of subjects covered?
• What keeps you coming back (or, if you haven’t been back in awhile, what’s kept you away)?
• On a scale of 1-10 (ten being the highest), how would you rate this blog in terms of how interesting or useful you find it?

As my work-in-progress, The Power Club™, nears completion, I'll be posting more stuff related to it, such here, here, and here.  But, in the meantime, I've also analyzed old comic book stories such as here, here, and here, and discussed movies such as The Hunger Games and X-Men: First Class.  But this blog also branches out into "this 'n' that" territory, such as The Help and The Beatles. 

My underlying purpose is to show that all writing is connected, and that writers who want to excel in their craft can learn from a diverse body of works while remaining true to their central focus (e.g., super-heroes).  

So, what do you think?  Is The Semi-Great Gildersleeve fulfilling your blogging needs?  If not, what can be improved?