Time after time
Today is 1 November and thus begins the twin insanities of NaBloPoMo and NaNoWriMo. I have been warming up for the former by trying to post every day this last week and it’s been good — it challenges my sometime laziness and makes me do something I in fact really want to do but sometimes avoid doing.
NaNoWriMo is another matter because while a blog post can take ten minutes, 2000 words just can’t. This means that I have to carve out let’s say two hours in each day. Theoretically, I have two hours four mornings a week, between dropping Daniel off and collecting Helena. Normally I read blogs or do laundry or read or knit or catch up on work or blog or write the emails I never write… but I also do errands, say hello to friends, go for a walk or haunt the Tangled Web. I do these things even when I say — I’m going to go home and write for two hours.
If I had a doctor’s appointment, I wouldn’t blow it off. If I had planned to see a friend, I would see him or her. But if my appointment is with myself, I don’t respect it. I don’t think this says anything deep about how I am or my self image or any such crap. I think it’s mostly that there is so little disposable time in my life and so many things I want to put into that time. How can I reserve these hours so fanatically? I don’t know if I can.
In Ed’s old job, one of their time management mantras had to do with deciding what was important and what was urgent, and setting time aside for both. Ed tends to always do what is urgent, what needs to be done NOW NOW NOW rather than what is slower and longer term, but equally if not more important. I have the same tendency. It is important that I write every day, but it is not urgent. There will be another today tomorrow (if you see what I mean). It is urgent that I get milk for Daniel’s supper. It is urgent that I see a friend who is suddenly free. It is urgent that I get material for Helena’s costume. I urgently need to see Diana at the Tangled Web for some knitlove.
I think for me the real challenge of NaNoWriMo (but check in with me later about this) will be the triumph of the important over the urgent. Or perhaps, the very urgency of this artifical deadline will be what pushes writing up my list of things to do.
And, you know, maybe there is an element of “just for me” in this. NaNoWriMo won’t get supper made, children bathed or the laundry done. It won’t make me a better person, a better friend or a better wife and mother. It won’t get birthday presents bought, telephone calls made or hair cut. It won’t help me get to parent-teacher conferences or to the playground. It is selfish, possibly self-indulgent even, and I want it. I’m even going to trade in knitting for the duration.
So watch this space. Maybe, as I write, I’ll leave bits of it here — two birds with one word, you know.
It will definitely push writing up your list of things to do. I, too, made writing important instead of urgent – and I still do. For that month, though, it was necessary. I HAD to do it, and I had to keep up. It droves me nuts at times – but you know what? I remember that dinners didn’t get made (sandwiches, everyone!), laundry went unfolded, and though I did make time to see friends – I didn’t make an entire day of it. I can honestly say, not a thing that didn’t get done is remembered now. It all worked out. And in the end, I had birthed a book. Pretty cool.
I like tanmara’s take on things. My house is usually a raging mess anyway. I hate the never-ending tedium of housework with a passion and prefer playing frantic catch up to the daily grind.
Personally I’ve written the worst shit ever this morning,but its my own little steaming pile of dung and I’m proud of the effort so far.
I can’t top Karrie’s comments.
Something I notice when I go through writing phases (or when I work on a deadline) is that I just write a lot mroe than normal and I throw everything that is in my head out on to the page. So observations which would go unmentioned get mentioned. And it makes me sad that I don’t live in that state all the time because, in truth, so much gets lost most of the time. I am an inefficient writer, most of the time (entropically speaking) but months like this, well, we will see what will happen.
Any reason you can’t put a load of wash in before you sit down to write, or make a casserole and let it cook while you write, etc.,? Giving oneself permission to do something one wants as well as things that are considered necessary can make master planners of us. Two hours of an entire day dedicated to writing is not much. If you had a “job” you’d find the time. Make it your life’s work to give yourself time for writing. As a mother of four in the 70s, living in a handbuilt log cabin without water or electricity the first year, I still made time to write. Those hours were as important as the ones spent hauling water and helping to build the house. (Besides, I got a book out of it!)
Yes, we seriously need casserole recipes. Please post one that will help us all. Good food nourishes the family and the writing.
I don’t know much about writing, but your analogy about the doctor’s appointment was thought-provoking. Appointments with ourselves always get shoved aside.
The distinction between important and urgent was interesting too.
See, just your writing about writing was interesting!!
Please make an urgent appointment to see me on December 1 when you may knit again.
ah.
i think you have hit the nail
on the head when you spoke of
what it will not achieve
in regards to “others”…
and how that makes us feel
in turn.
and
its scary…this commitment.
this commitment to yourself.
good for you for taking it on.
Last year I hurt my back a week into November and was laid up away from the computer for two weeks. I couldn’t explain to my husband why it was THAT important to reach the 50,000 words. Commitment to ourselves is the most important kind.
What on earth is NaBloPoMo?
Joint a chicken. Roll it in flour which you’ve seasoned with salt and pepper. Get a heavy casserole with a lid. Brown the chicken in some butter, but don’t cook it. Remove and keep warm. Finely chop some onions, leeks and celery, into small cubes about the size of a 5 year old’s thumbnail. Add a splash of olive oil to the browned butter and scraps of chicken and flour that’ll remain in the pan, and cook the veg on a very low heat until it turns translucent. Put the chicken back in, and pour in white wine and chicken stock so the liquid is about 3/4 the way up the meat. Throw in some parsley stalks, thyme and bay leaf (you can get bouquet garni tea bags over here which is much easier). If you want you can add a carrot choppped into rounds the size of your own thumbnails. Throw in small new potatoes and shallots if you want. Cover. Put in the oven at gas mark 2(very low) for about 3 or 4 hours. Check the chicken’s cooked — juices clear and all that — and then taste and season then take off the heat and whisk in some thick cream. Serve with a salad of baby leaf spinach, a crusty loaf of bread and a glass of chilled Chablis.
R
A glass of Chablis and a good friend would be even better.
NaBloPoMo is National Blog Post month — post to your blog every day in November.
I am in awe of how you are doing both NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo. I have not quite kept up with NaBloPoMo (missed one day), but I’m not doing any of the other writing I am supposed to be doing.