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Help! How do I proceed from here?
Hi Mommies,
I have a 1500-2000 word magazine article due in six days and I have gotten NOWHERE. I found out about it 3 weeks ago. I've done research, conducted interviews, etc. For the past week or so I've been trying to write this piece and the ideas are just not coming to me. I feel like I’m all over the place.
My problem is that I'm completely overwhelmed. My life is occupied with two overflowing plates: the Motherhood Plate (single mom to a 2 year old with very little support and even less time) and the Everything Else Plate. Anything that can go wrong on the Everything Else Plate has.
Briefly, I was unemployed for 2 years. Took a substantial pay cut from what I made at my previous job. I thought I could swing it if I cut back. As soon as I started working, an avalanche of financial chaos ensued. Home value is dropping but mortgage isn't. Home in need of several major repairs that I can't afford. Then there's the onslaught of other unexpected bills (student loans, increase in daycare costs, and health issues that keep me stacking up medical bills as doctors can't find what's wrong with me). Oh and don't get me started on the 3-4 hours of INTERRUPTED sleep I get every night. All these things have been kicking my butt and I don't get a moment’s break from any of them.
I thought I could take on this article when the editor presented to me. But I'm kicking myself for accepting it. I should've never agreed to do this w/all I have going on. I've even thought of calling him to say I just can't do it. But even that's out of character for me. I could never leave anyone hanging like that in the 11th hour.
I feel I've lost my edge as a writer. I can't even find the inner source I could once rely on to help me refocus during times like this.
How do I get this article done with all this stuff going on? How do you ladies work pass all the life drama and continue to create? What advice can any of you give to help me get in the zone? I just can not see how I'm going to complete this article.
Thanks for listening and sharing.
part of the SparkPoint Studio Family
I tend to 'shape' the prose in my head while doing other things (dishes, getting her down for naps (I have a 2 year old and am freelancing, too), cooking dinner, etc) and then sit down to write during naps/after her bedtime. That way I've already got a good sense of what I'm going to write. I don't think you've lost your skill. You've lost your confidence -- and you can get it back.
Start with the topic of the article. Do you have a personal story from one of your interview subjects that can open the piece? Start with that and let it flow from there.
From what I know, if it's a piece an editor really wants to see done, they are often amenable to giving you an extension. Especially if you've done the legwork already.
As far as re-focusing, the things that work for me are things that are necessarily solo-tasking things like walking the dog or taking a shower or doing yoga. While my body is fully engaged with only one thing and I can't be doing anything else, I just let my mind wander and find that it will un-knot itself and come up with a way to make the writing work. When I'm struggling with how to start a piece or shift it a little, I do something like that and I will generally have some sort of epiphany.
Good luck!
Hi C Devée,
and thanks for your comment on the mother guilt side!!
ok so here are my thoughts for what it's worth...
maybe the chaos is getting you down but if you can write something you love this week I think the Everything Else Plate will seem much more everything else... and I hope most of the plate can wait 6 days???
If you can't farm out your 2-year-old for one calm day, I would try to sleep an 8 hour night and then get up at 3 am the next night--if it's the baby keeping you up at night s/he's not allowed to do that at 2!!
(my son just fell out of his bed as I was writing this...)
In any case I think 2-4 hours of calm with no one around at any time of day or night will be enough to start the engine...
don't get discouraged, you sound like a superhero to me
(btw you can handle the bills and repairs at 3am next week...)
cheers