Many authors dream of writing books for a living because of the work-life balance they believe it will give them.  It is true that writing is a profession that can be done from home, but like any work endeavour, it is important to set boundaries for your writing to avoid it taking over your life and to ensure that your writing gets the ‘best out of you’ – that is, you only write when you are feeling creative, not tired or stressed out!

Even the most ‘workaholic’ of us needs a break from time to time, and having a balance can be great for your writing.  When you are ‘doing the do’, living day to day life, managing a family and squeezing in your writing, it can be easy to forget that there is a whole world out there – outside your office door!  Being amongst other people and in different situations widens your perspective which can be excellent for your creativity and stop you from becoming too ‘blinkered’.

Having focus is a key writing skill but sometimes your best ideas can come to you when you are not actually working or thinking about work.  Have you ever been on a beach or on a bike ride and had a ‘eureka’ moment?

There was once a story about a professor who filled a jam jar with pebbles and asked the class, “Is this jar full?”

One of the students confirmed that it was, so the professor poured sand into the jar, allowing the sand to fill the small gaps between the pebbles.  He then asked if the jar was full? One of the students decided that it was so the professor poured a jug of water into the jar, taking the contents to the brim.

The jar was now full.

The professor asked, “If this jar represents your life, what is the lesson here?”.  A student answered that no matter how full you think your day is, you can always get more in there.

The professor disagreed.  He said that the lesson was actually to make sure that the ‘big rocks’ (ie: your priorities) are put in place first, otherwise the space will be taken up by the little things.  This is so true when writing.  You need to make time for it amongst your other priorities.

To achieve a good balance, make sure that you schedule regular time to work on your writing – preferably at a time of day when you are operating at your peak.  Get your ‘big rocks’ in place first.  But then do make sure that you have some time to relax too and do whatever you love to do outside of work.  Even ‘ring fence’ the time out of your diary.  Remember the saying about ‘all work and no play…’!