Stuck Writer Seeks Escape from Deadline

Well, I haven’t written my article yet. I’ve done all the research, all the interviewing. I have about five or six times more material than I need for the 2,300-wd piece I have to write. My deadline is Monday. I’m not stuck, or blocked, per se. Frankly, I’m just don’t want to write it. Today I have no childcare, so it will be tough to knock it out today, which of course, would be ideal. I have plans for this weekend, so I’m honestly not sure when it’s going to get done. The crazy thing is I’ve already spent about 28 hours on it. So, if the stars align and if my muse shows up sometime between now and Monday at 5 p.m., I might just break the $20 per hour mark on this job. (That’s sucky, BTW.) I know that once again I have done WAY more work than was actually necessary. Curse my perfectionist tendencies!

However, there are other benefits (besides money) earned by my writing this piece for the magazine: doing it 1) leads to more work, both writing jobs and editing jobs for them (and my hourly editing rate is quite good), 2) provides me with more writing clips and more exposure, 3) keeps my skills up, 4) allows me to meet and talk with lots of interesting people that I would not meet otherwise, 5) allows me to learn new things, and 6) makes my grandmother happy to see my name on articles when she gets her magazine in the mail. Writing articles is about the only thing that most of my family members can understand about my business and skills. It’s a tangible thing they can see and it makes them proud. You can bet your boopy that they’re not going to seek out one of the more obscure and intellectual monographs that I’ve edited. Besides, generally speaking, my name doesn’t get in those: I’m sort of a “behind-the-scenes” editor on most of those projects.

The other good news is that the process required to research and write this piece on exercise has really motivated me to get my ass into gear again. I recently realized that it was a year ago that I kind of fell out of the exercise habit—ironically, it was during the writing of another piece about weekend warriors. My life got crazy-busy, and stressful, and depressing about this time last year. I lost steam and stopped running and working out, and basically spiraled down the drain for a couple of months. I’m very happy to report that the opposite is true this year, with this exercise article. I’m inspired by the people I’ve interviewed and I’m building up momentum at the gym. So, yay!

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  • About Sara

    Thanks for visiting! I’m Sara, editor and writer, wife to Ian, and mother of two precious boys. I am living each day to the fullest and with as much grace, creativity, and patience as I can muster. This is where I write about living, loving, and engaging fully in family life and the world around me. I let my hair down here. I learn new skills here. I strive to be a better human being here. And I tell the truth.

    Our children attend Waldorf school and we are enriching our home and family life with plenty of Waldorf-inspired festivals, crafts, and stories.

    © 2003–2018 Please do not use my photographs or text without my permission.

    “Love doesn’t just sit there like a stone; it has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new.” —Ursula K. LeGuinn

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