Quiet Keystrokes and Midnight Ramblings

This past weekend our family headed out to Spirit Mountain Casino  to celebrate my mom's 50th birthday.  It was a great time both in the casino and hanging out in the restaurants and up in the rooms (Mr. Kawaii and I rented a suite for the night so there would be room for our entire gang to hang out in), and although the excitement of the weekend left us all exhausted it was certainly a perfectly timed break from working and writing. Time and time again, Mr. Kawaii reminds me of the importance of scheduling time away from work; and time and time again he is proved right.  It is very easy as a stay-at-home worker bee to work constantly, and even easier to get burnt out when projects pile up and we get overwhelmed.  Taking a step back and living life a little helps to keep things in perspective. To all of you - keep up the good work on your own projects, and celebrate your success by taking a day or two off!

I am a "doer".  It has been demonstrated time and time again that it is very difficult for me to stop working on projects, even when I know I need to take a break.  This blessing/curse has become exponentially more apparent now that I work from the comfort and confines of my own home, and Mr. Kawaii and I are constantly trying to find little ways to help me switch off at the end of the day. Constantly being surrounded by work in my personal space makes it so easy to do "one more thing", remind me of a project that I wanted to get done today or give me ideas for new projects that I hadn't even thought of during my working hours.  Bits and pieces of our home business can be found in our home-office, our dining room, can be seen from the dining room and kitchen... all of the rooms that are most frequently used during the day for work and for rest.  It's as easy to get distracted by work when I'm checking my personal e-mail as it is to be distracted by it ...

Possibly the single most difficult part of being a writer is trying to come up with fresh ideas.  This is particularly difficult for me sometimes when writing for the internet because I'm essentially battling with billions of other bloggers, freelance writers and technical writers for creative space.  For me, inspiration comes in waves and I've learned that I need to capture ideas as they come in order to keep up a pace that continues to build momentum on all that I've already done. About once every few weeks as I am sitting on my bum cruising the internets, or sitting in the DMV waiting area listening to the workers drone on as I wait my turn, or picking up groceries at the store, I have a sudden burst of great ideas for things to write about.  The lightning bolt of inspiration comes at random and it's very easy to miss it if I'm not paying attention or don't have a piece of paper and pen handy.  But when the stars align and I realize what is happening in thi...

My writing has taken off this past year, and although I won't go so far as to say that I'm a writer "in demand", I have somehow begun to amass a long list of deadlines and due dates.  Now, I'm not complaining - having a list of writing assignments and requests makes me feel useful and respectable in a way that is incomparable to any other job/career I've held.  But it does make me pause during the first week of the month when I write all of the deadlines on the whiteboard above my computer and when I'm done the board runs over with colors, bullet points and underlined important projects. Managing deadlines can be tricky, especially when other opportunities pop up mid-month, a family member falls ill or the sun comes out and calls to you through the window.  It's probably the most difficult task I deal with on a week to week basis, and I have to force myself to not push things out "until tomorrow".  Some of the things that help to keep me on ...