They say the older we get, the years tend to fly in the blink of an eye. Well, I'm sure I must be 302 years old because this year zipped by so dang fast, it's actually scary. Life is very, very short and as we know, we need to cherish each and every day and make the most of every single moment. And if we manage to discover our purpose, our mission, our passion along the way, what a major blessing that is.
If you've discovered a passion for writing and been bitten by the bug, then you know the feeling of bringing a story to life knowing you've created it from a thought in your mind's eye. And then after all of the sweat it took to pen it, you give your story wings, and then jump right back in, only to need to meet another deadline.
Having an entire year to write a book seems like a long time. But before you know it, you have very little time left and wonder why you took so long to get yourself in gear, why you deviated from what you thought was one heck of a well thought out plan. "If I just do ten pages a day for thirty days I'll have a rough draft. And then I'll take sixty days to sharpen it up, and another two months to tweak it. I'll spend three months reading it and relayering and redrafting and two more months with a focus group." Yeah right. Life happens, and your plan didn't, because My How Time Flies.
Managing to make the most of our time as "reclusive by necessity" authors takes serious discipline and determination and dedication. We work hard to practice those three D's because the rewards of self-fulfillment are so satisfying.
When it comes to what we do as authors, meeting a deadline (called "dead" and "line" for a reason) is challenging. A book is done when it's done, not simply because it's due today. But remember, simply because of the fact that life is so short and time flies so quickly, make the most of your time if you can. Handle your business. But let's handle your greatest passion first and foremost - those who we love, and who love us! Let's give them the greatest gift we can - our time!
As I've gotten older it's become harder and harder for me to just throw time away for people who haven't done their part but expect me to pick up the slack. I'm getting more and more aware of how swiftly the time goes.
ReplyDeleteMarissa, I was thinking about this just days ago. December already? Where did the year go?
ReplyDeleteManaging your time so your priorities don't get lost in the shuffle becomes more and more critical as we get older and realize we're not immortal. :-/