I used to date this famous author — it was when he was actually on the cusp of being famous — and he would take two weeks off from all of life to write.
All of life.
Including me!
He would hunker down in the library and not have any social obligations just to write his literary fiction.
I guess he didn’t have to make a living. Or hang out with friends. Or me, in fact.
Suffice it to say our relationship didn’t last very long. His writing career did, though. Mine took a lot more twists and turns to get started on a long-form projejct.
I think of him, though Not just when he’s on the NYT Bestseller list. Just when starting a project. Do I need to go into hiding for two weeks or a month or a year to get one project done?
I might have been able to in my twenties but not anymore. I have to make a living, raise my family, talk to my husband, maintain our social lives…
Then I remember there are many ways to achieve balance, withouth going underground. I can focus on a long-form project during the day and my family at night (no more Amazon kids’ shoe shopping!)
But I can curtail some of the busy-ness of life, the whirlwind of ideas in my head. I can take a page from his bestselling book and focus for longform. Without ignoring my partner, too!
