My greatest struggle, when it comes to writing, has to be multi-tasking. No matter how many (or how few) writing projects I have on the go at any one time, one piece will always be prioritised over the rest. Often, this has few negative consequences, as I do like to have one large, overarching project going on in my life; I like to have smaller projects running simultaneously, that I can dip into when I become tired or unproductive with the main one. This usually works really well, but where it can get sticky is when I’m juggling my university work and my personal projects at the same time, such as editing my first novel and plotting its sequel.
It’s easy to say: “Well, prioritise the uni work, duh.” But I find that, unlike before my course started and all of my projects were personal ones, the fact that some of my work is for university, and some of it’s personal, is where it becomes difficult to manage. I don’t know why, but managing my time between the two similar but obviously different worlds can be a challenge. For example, I’ll spend days in a row exclusively working on university coursework, then turn around and think “Wow, why have I neglected my novel for five days?” And the opposite happens also (though this is rarely the case at the moment).
I suppose that the obvious answer is to plan my time more carefully, and to do so in advance. I find such an approach brilliant in theory, but it rarely works for me. For example, if I say “Tomorrow I will work on uni stuff in the morning and my novel in the afternoon,” I find I don’t sleep well that night, and subsequently the morning work gets pushed back to the afternoon. I’m sure you catch my drift.
I’m sure few writers on Earth, when pressed, would say they sit down and write as often as they’d like. Life, I guess, just gets in the way. And in a way it’s good that it does, else I’d be stuck to a chair staring at my laptop for ten hours straight every single day.
Davey Cobb 