I have my one life, in which I teach 6th grade English and Reading in my mid-size Louisiana city of Shreveport. And then I have my second life, wherein I am traveling to and taking phone calls from New York, editing my manuscript in coffee shops, and social-networking to help build up a fan base.
So far, I haven’t noticed my “day job” of teaching being greatly affected by my writing life. I will say, however, that I have started to find it hard to focus the attention (I think) I need to writing. Being a writer has changed for me with all of these recent revelations. For one, I am no longer a lone writer, hoping desperately to be read by someone, ANYONE, someday. I am, instead, a writer whose debut will be on sale in less than a year. I am also someone who has only been able to work on his second novel enough to scrounge up about sixteen pages. This is the part that is worrisome.
I have the great fortune of having a job that allows me some amazing vacation time, though. I am about to be off work for nearly three months and I hope, between road trips and sleeping way too late for my age, to finish my second novel and start the process of editing it as well. But, for those of you who don’t have the luxury (and there are few things about teaching I’d call luxuries) of extended vacations, I find myself wondering (and standing in awe of) how you manage to juggle your two lives?
So, to change things up a bit, I’d like to ask you to share any tips, stories, etc., you may have that might provide some insights to all of us WeBookers who sometimes find it difficult to reconcile what we HAVE to do with what we WANT to do.
Happy Juggling,
--Corey






