Climbing uphill as fast as I can.
There was a link going around this morning to a blog post about things authors really want their readers to know. One of the items on the list was, essentially, "I'm so glad to be accessible, and I love talking to you, and I love that you're excited by my work, and I swear I'm not ignoring you, no, really."
My desire to have this made into a T-shirt and wear it every day is enormous. Because here's the thing: if I have not answered your email, responded to your Facebook comment, or answered your Twitter, it's not because I'm snubbing you, or because I don't think you're totally awesome and mad cool. It's because I am so out-numbered that I'm feeling like the last surviving player in the Teenage Zombie High School scenario, only I don't have any plastic explosives, and I'm not allowed to blow up the building. (Kate says so, and we trust Kate in these things.)
Right now, everything I do spawns something else that must be done. If I put "write thank you cards" on my to-do list, it's followed with "buy thank you cards," "buy stamps," and "mail thank you cards"-all small, silly things, but all things that absolutely have to happen in order for the thank you cards to go out. I am doing my best to tame things by breaking them down into smaller and smaller items, which results in more things that need to happen (bad), but also results in things being easier to achieve (good). My daily to-do lists are solidly booked out through mid-October, and my weekly overviews are complete through the end of the year. Everything that comes up from here until January 1st is getting shoved in around the lists that came before it.
Please understand that I am not complaining. I'm like a shark; I keep moving, or I sink to the bottom of my tank and die. For me, "writing an essay series" and "drawing two dozen art cards" qualify as "taking a break to recharge my batteries." I genuinely enjoy being this busy, and I love the things I'm doing that make me as busy as I am. I just don't get a limitless number of hours in the day, and sometimes, those hours have already been promised to something else when the daily bucket o' email comes rolling in.
Have patience with me? I'm climbing uphill just as fast as I can.
My desire to have this made into a T-shirt and wear it every day is enormous. Because here's the thing: if I have not answered your email, responded to your Facebook comment, or answered your Twitter, it's not because I'm snubbing you, or because I don't think you're totally awesome and mad cool. It's because I am so out-numbered that I'm feeling like the last surviving player in the Teenage Zombie High School scenario, only I don't have any plastic explosives, and I'm not allowed to blow up the building. (Kate says so, and we trust Kate in these things.)
Right now, everything I do spawns something else that must be done. If I put "write thank you cards" on my to-do list, it's followed with "buy thank you cards," "buy stamps," and "mail thank you cards"-all small, silly things, but all things that absolutely have to happen in order for the thank you cards to go out. I am doing my best to tame things by breaking them down into smaller and smaller items, which results in more things that need to happen (bad), but also results in things being easier to achieve (good). My daily to-do lists are solidly booked out through mid-October, and my weekly overviews are complete through the end of the year. Everything that comes up from here until January 1st is getting shoved in around the lists that came before it.
Please understand that I am not complaining. I'm like a shark; I keep moving, or I sink to the bottom of my tank and die. For me, "writing an essay series" and "drawing two dozen art cards" qualify as "taking a break to recharge my batteries." I genuinely enjoy being this busy, and I love the things I'm doing that make me as busy as I am. I just don't get a limitless number of hours in the day, and sometimes, those hours have already been promised to something else when the daily bucket o' email comes rolling in.
Have patience with me? I'm climbing uphill just as fast as I can.