“This is one part of incrementalism that I wish I could buy into, this idea that hours are slots in the day and events can be subbed in and out of different slots.” Um, yeah- no. It does not work this way for me! Managing my time and stewarding my energy are two very different things, which is why my life doesn’t work like a factory where I can just sub things in and out on a clock.
Loved this piece and how you’re wrestling with so much of what many of us seem to be wrestling with. I’m also at a place where writing isn’t quite just a hobby but what it actually is depends on the day and sometimes the hour.
Coming back to comment on this, because it was really encouraging. I am so often in a hurry to get it figured out, and there's something comforting (okay, and maybe a teeny bit frustrating) about knowing that it's always going to be a juggling act. I'm typing away in the basement, close to bedtime, trying to make this thing I've had in my head all weekend cooperate. It feels a little bit like I've been afflicted with an illness when I get an idea; it's always simmering in the back of my mind til I get to it. Such a battle to keep the right things in focus and not be frustrated with all the people and things tugging at me.
"It’s not that I want to finish a writing project so that I can be done with writing. I didn’t have children so that I could hurry up and be done parenting.
Maybe that’s a better way for me to look at it: parenting happens every day, for the long haul, and you never finish but it changes. Can writing be that way?"
*Not me writing my first piece for a publication and hammering it out like a madwoman this weekend, as though the point was to complete it ASAP. I mean, the weekend did afford me time I wouldn't have otherwise, with my husband taking the kids.... but still. :')
Consistent incremental progress keeps moving towards the goal; and I feel that’s better than pouring too much of yourself into projects and burning out or throwing your hands in the air and screaming (albeit quietly) I QUIT. YOU are staying on target lovely, brilliant, kind and compassionate niece of mine🥰
pretty sure that the book and the author you are speaking about is Shelby Van Pelt who is a Tacoma native, and born and raised here in the area. She lives in the Chicago area and wrote Remarkably Bright Creatures during the pandemic.
I received a copy for my birthday and read it in 5 days it is astonishingly good.
Tresta, again you have written thoughts that I can identify with very well. 🙂 The patience for incremental work is lacking, but I see that it’s a necessary part of life if I want to live with any contentment. I love your thought that God’s interruptions are more beautiful than the things we would have chosen. Yes! I’ll listen to your Related Things. Thank you for writing!
“This is one part of incrementalism that I wish I could buy into, this idea that hours are slots in the day and events can be subbed in and out of different slots.” Um, yeah- no. It does not work this way for me! Managing my time and stewarding my energy are two very different things, which is why my life doesn’t work like a factory where I can just sub things in and out on a clock.
Loved this piece and how you’re wrestling with so much of what many of us seem to be wrestling with. I’m also at a place where writing isn’t quite just a hobby but what it actually is depends on the day and sometimes the hour.
Coming back to comment on this, because it was really encouraging. I am so often in a hurry to get it figured out, and there's something comforting (okay, and maybe a teeny bit frustrating) about knowing that it's always going to be a juggling act. I'm typing away in the basement, close to bedtime, trying to make this thing I've had in my head all weekend cooperate. It feels a little bit like I've been afflicted with an illness when I get an idea; it's always simmering in the back of my mind til I get to it. Such a battle to keep the right things in focus and not be frustrated with all the people and things tugging at me.
I relate to every single word, Tresta. Thank you.
"It’s not that I want to finish a writing project so that I can be done with writing. I didn’t have children so that I could hurry up and be done parenting.
Maybe that’s a better way for me to look at it: parenting happens every day, for the long haul, and you never finish but it changes. Can writing be that way?"
*Not me writing my first piece for a publication and hammering it out like a madwoman this weekend, as though the point was to complete it ASAP. I mean, the weekend did afford me time I wouldn't have otherwise, with my husband taking the kids.... but still. :')
Consistent incremental progress keeps moving towards the goal; and I feel that’s better than pouring too much of yourself into projects and burning out or throwing your hands in the air and screaming (albeit quietly) I QUIT. YOU are staying on target lovely, brilliant, kind and compassionate niece of mine🥰
PS ((see Notes))
pretty sure that the book and the author you are speaking about is Shelby Van Pelt who is a Tacoma native, and born and raised here in the area. She lives in the Chicago area and wrote Remarkably Bright Creatures during the pandemic.
I received a copy for my birthday and read it in 5 days it is astonishingly good.
Tresta, again you have written thoughts that I can identify with very well. 🙂 The patience for incremental work is lacking, but I see that it’s a necessary part of life if I want to live with any contentment. I love your thought that God’s interruptions are more beautiful than the things we would have chosen. Yes! I’ll listen to your Related Things. Thank you for writing!