Monday, February 6, 2012

Banana Bread! Row80 Update

I made banana bread! I'm so happy! Why? I'm learning how to do more baking, and this is something I've never made before and it came out awesome! Woot!

Anyway... on to the writing!

On Wednesday I said that I needed to rethink my goals. Here is the conclusion that I have come to, I can not devote my life to writing right now.

What does that mean?

First of all - I'm not going to stop writing! That would just be insane. That would be ... soul sucking. I may go through weeks where I write less than others, but I am a much happier Ruthie when I write, so completely abandoning writing is just not going to happen. Period.

Second - I am keeping my writing goals, but they have been massively scaled back. I have decided that while I have two books I want to work on, I just can't sustain that level of focus right now because I need it for other things. For the next few weeks my goals are simply to work on blogging regularly again, and focus on Misfits. This decision was HARD because I want to work on both, but I'm not doing justice to either and getting stressed. Stress is not good.

Lastly - the reason behind all of this is that I'm really good at setting myself up to do to much, and between asthma and migraines, that is not a good thing! Especially since stress tends to lead to both of those. I got through NaNoWriMo and said, "I can do this! I'm going to focus on my writing and put it first!" Which would be great if I was truly at a place in my life where I could do that.

Instead, I really need to put my health first. I'm in the middle of a long journey out of the deep hole that was dug by my body. That may sound weird, but a full explanation would just take too long and make me sad. Suffice it to say, I am a very unhealthy person and large portions of it are not my fault (that and I love food, I really love food!). It means I have a long journey ahead of me to be what could be considered even semi-healthy. I am much better than I was, but...

Working on my healthy isn't just good for all the normal reasons, as I continue to get stronger I'll be able to do more, which in the long run, will mean more writing!

Where are you at with your writing?

~ Ruthie ~

Ps. As a perfect example of how messed up my health has been - yesterday was a really busy day and I wrote this up while the banana bread was cooking. But by the time I had pulled it from the oven, taken pictures, and eaten, I had to go do something else. By the time dinner was done I was so tired I couldn't do anything else and this never got posted. See why we need to get on top of this whole health situation?

4 comments:

  1. Mmm...that bread looks sooooo good!

    Congratulations on making the hard decisions and changes you need. Your health *is* the most important thing! If you are too sick and exhausted you can't do the cool stuff you want, and that's just no good.

    Hang in there!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Its good you are thinking about yourself and your well being. I kn ow for myself I had to scale back. I took a week off from writing.. it was hard but I realized I also have to live life... thus gain experience and become a better writer..I hope.

    Keep it up and take care of yourself!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ruthie,

    You know I COMPLETELY understand where you're at and how it goes, trust me I do. That and the fact that I just want to do so MUCH that my mind just circles and I never accomplish anything O.o

    But as you said, our health comes first and foremost on our to-do list and it's good you realize that! :)

    I think you've made some great goals and decisions-Now it's just having the patience to complete them. LOL

    Much love from your friend in Illinois ^.^

    P.s. That banana bread looks TO-DIE for!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I really enjoyed visiting your blog. I would also like to share with you something for your benefit.
    ភ្នាល់បាល់​ អនឡាញ

    ReplyDelete