Debut on a Deadline: Lessons in Work Life Balance as a New Author

I turned in a big round of developmental edits last week on my debut novel, All We Have is Time, which is hitting shelves next year! Now, I’m in that weird liminal space between deadlines; a two week window before I get notes back from my editors where I’m not quite sure what to do with myself. 

Ordinarily, I might poke at another project, but two weeks isn’t a lot of time, and this time, those two weeks don’t even fully belong to me. I’m currently fighting a cold one of my kids brought home from school, and by the time you’re reading this, I’ll have company staying at my house for five days, then another round of company coming into town less than a week later, which will bring me right up to receiving my new editorial notes. Instead, I’m focusing on refueling my creativity. 

I’ll admit it: the closer my deadline drew, the harder I failed at the whole work life balance thing. I started out strong, intentionally writing to a certain deadline and then stepping back from work for the day. I went to the gym, and met with friends I hadn’t seen for ages for lunch. But as the deadline drew closer—and a few rewrites were harder to crack than I anticipated—I found myself skipping gym days and meetups, and spending hours glued to my desk chair. 

That is the thing about writing, or any creative endeavor, really. It’s unpredictable. No matter how you plan for it and schedule it, one plot hole can derail all your good intentions. Should I have tried to be more balanced in my approach? Probably. By the end of five straight days at my desk, my back was not happy! But I also know that this pace of work is temporary. I am on a schedule, and I had a deadline to meet. Could I have asked for an extension? Sure. But I think that would have disappointed me more, and could have had a larger impact on my overall publishing schedule. Personally, I would rather face the consequences of cramming in hours of edits than of missing the scheduled deadline, so that is the decision I made. 

I think part of the difficulty in finding a balance on deadline is because I’m brand new to the publishing world. I have never written to a deadline like this before, never taken notes this extensive into account before. It’s a learning process, and part of that is learning how to use my time. I learn a little more about that in each round of edits, but this whole first book is going to be me discovering how to balance author life. 

I hope I keep getting better at it, that when the entire debut process is behind me I will have a better handle on how all the pieces work. For now, I can start on those times when I’m not on a deadline and practice building good habits, like sticking to my schedule and stepping away from my laptop when my writing time is done, whether the chapter is finished or not. 

So, what does that look like for these next two weeks? I’m spending my wait catching up on things I’ve put off. I’ve been steadily ticking things off my to do list, which gives me that little endorphin rush that motivates me to do something else on my list, too.

I’ve been reading all the books I put off reading for the past few weeks, and met with my friends for the first time in weeks the day after I turned in my edits. Also I got cake, because I’m trying to celebrate the little wins, and turning in this new draft was a win!

I cleaned my office and moved my desk to make the space flow better, and organized my things so it didn’t feel so overwhelming. Now when I’m ready to write, my office will be, too.

I’ve also been doing other creative things instead of writing, namely trying to get the knee sock I am knitting for my daughter finished before the next round of edits comes down! 

Most importantly, I haven’t looked at my manuscript since I hit send on that email to my editors, and I don’t plan to until I get my next round of notes. Two weeks is not much, but I find that even a little time completely away can help put some distance between you and your words and give you the ability to come back to your feedback with fresh eyes. 

I think rest is an often overlooked part of the creative process, but being creative is hard work. Some nights I swear my brain had turned to mush! So, I am going to use this little break to rest and recharge my creativity. My hope is that in the next round of edits, I can use what I’ve learned this round to perform a better balancing act.