I’m slowly setting up a new writing schedule. Because I’m juggling lots of home chores, I need predictability. Ideally, my plan is one day for research, one day for writing, half a day for editing. But it never really works out that way.  I often spend five days on those tasks. I also need time to figure out the next article topic. Ugh. That’s six days. If I waste time looking at social media conversations about my articles, I’m really sunk.

Last week, I spent five days on an article that sort of sucked. I didn’t know it was going to suck when I started it, but after five days, I still didn’t have what the editor wanted. So, five days of work went down the tubes. Now, I’m hustling to hit my writing quota for the month.  I’m nearly done with one piece that will show up later in the week. But I’m going to have to work today with the kids in the background to get a jump on next week’s work.

I’ve thought about outsourcing some tasks. I’m still doing everything that I used to do, plus working nearly full-time at a new job. Maybe I should hire someone to drive the kids around to their after-school activities or bring in someone to make dinner and tidy the house. But I don’t really want to give up those jobs. Well, the house tidying I could pass on, but I don’t want to give up driving and cooking for the kids. Jonah is going off to college in two years, and there’s that countdown clock in the background. Only two years left of my kid.

For the time being, I’m managing. It’s all fun and interesting. And I’ve lost five pounds from stress! So that’s cool.