First off – to those who have sent me interview requests and guest posts – I am in the process of getting back to you to get those scheduled. I’m amazed at how many people have taken me up on that offer, and I want to make sure everyone gets their time to shine. The thing is getting it done while getting everything else done, as well.
Which brings me to one of those darn starving artist posts, heh.
Today’s subject is multi-tasking.
I know it’s something of a necessity these days, but if you’re getting into writing or the arts in general (especially if you’re freelancing or you’re the main focus of your business), you’re going to have to develop this skill. You don’t have to be a ninja at it, but there is a certain amount of juggling. I’m still developing a rhythm. I want to get to a point where I have set times for handling promo, set times for writing my blog and scheduling other people for my blog, set times for writing, set times for submitting…because the fact is it all takes time. Editing, writing, developing, business aspects, searching for promo, doing the promo, scheduling other people, blogging, doing guest blogging, column writing…it definitely takes a lot if you want to put your name out there.
Is it worth it? Of course. And I still have something of a social life. I’m far from a party animal, so I suppose that helps, but I still hang out with my family, I still visit my friends, I still have days where my brain just refuses to do anything (and sometimes these days turn into like a week…). Sometimes I just want to curl up at night with a book and ignore everything else.
But at some point, I (and everyone else in this lifestyle) has to get back in the saddle. I’d love to sit back and let things happen, but the fact is that’s not going to be the case for anyone. These days, everyone has to take things into their own hands, even if it’s just a little. And call me crazy, but I want to know what’s going on in all the aspects of my writing career, and in my artistic career in general. I don’t like being kept in the dark. I don’t like leaving things to chance. I am learning to loosen up a bit, but there’s really only so much that I can loosen up at this point, because there is a lot to do. Seriously, I’d put up my to do list here but then I’d just cry. And the problem is by throwing it up in my face constantly, I freeze. So I’m learning to just take a little at a time and cheerlead myself into getting things done…and realize that I don’t have to be Supergirl.
Batgirl is a whole other story. It’s a life ambition to be Batgirl, but I don’t have to be Supergirl.
I will admit that I love a lot of the to do list, though. It really helps to love what you do, and to be grateful for the opportunities you’re given. I definitely am grateful and a little incredulous a lot of the time. And then there are the days where I want the whole world to go back to living in caves so I can just scrawl pictures on the walls and not have to do anything else. I have my burn out days, too, believe me. I’m learning to not beat myself up about them, though. I experience them, and I try to encourage myself. I let myself have some time and then it’s back to slowly working my way through the to do list.
And believe me, that to do list is not going to go away any time soon.
Welcome to the arts, everybody! 🙂
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