31: Eight Ways to Create Margin in Your Author Life

Last week, things did not go as planned. My newsletter

did not go out as planned. Neither did the podcast. Nothing

went right actually, I received a phone call from my mother that

my 82 year old father had fallen and couldn't get up through that

experience. In the ensuing fallout. I've learned I simply

do not have enough margin in my life. How can an author create

margin so that emergencies and life events don't completely

derail work? Let's discuss this question in Episode 31 of rainy

pursuits. Welcome to the writing pursuits podcast where authors

like you discuss writing craft, author, life and book marketing

strategies. I'm your host Kathrese. McKee. I own writing

pursuits and write and produce the weekly newsletter writing

pursuits tips for authors. In addition, I am a speculative

fiction author writing pursuits is for authors who drink too

much coffee, endure judgemental looks from their free writing,

convenience and struggle for words. If you are a writer

seeking encouragement, information and inspiration,

this podcast is for you. Let's get to it. Hey, writing precedes

authors. Welcome back to the podcast. To those of you who are

new, I want to extend a special welcome. My name is Kathrese

McKee. And I'm glad you're here, please leave a comment a star

rating and follow the show to help others find writing

pursuits. As I described in the opening, my father fell and

couldn't get up. They called emergency management services,

EMS, and medics got down on his feet. He had no obvious injuries

and seemed much better. So he declined a ride to the hospital

in the ambulance. Four hours later, he fell again on the same

side. And this time it hurt a whole lot more mom called to

tell me he was on his way to the emergency room. I'm her driver.

So of course, I picked her up and took her to the hospital and

stayed with her. We're on our second week of recovery and now

dad is in a rehab facility. Of course, the emergency isn't over

for us, there will be Fallout four months to come. Last week's

work didn't get done, and I am not sorry. Through this

experience, I realized, I have created a schedule with no

margin for error, I was reminded that we all need margin in our

lives. Margin means different things to different people. But

for me, it means that when life goes sideways, the show goes on.

For authors like me, it means we can continue to write even if it

is at a reduced level. Margin means I can take time off from

the weekly routine for family emergencies or health issues or

simply to take a week off without letting my readers down.

Obviously, since there was no margin, no safety net, then I

chose my family over everything else. For me, margin means

shaping a schedule that allows me to read for pleasure. Lately,

I have fear that I had lost the ability to read for pleasure.

How sad is that? This week, when the hours at the hospital

dragged by, I lost myself between the covers of a trilogy

good fiction helped me deal with a high stress situation by

giving me a way to decompress while being present. To advocate

for my elderly parents. We need margin like we need highway rest

areas, places to pull over to deal with rowdy kids and puking

dogs and flat tires. We need the space to rest our eyes or read a

good book or be with family. Creating margin is a way to

safeguard mental and physical health. So what are some ways to

create margin? I thought of eight. Number one, do less.

Obviously we can choose to do less. But I admit it's easier

said than done. We have to minimize commitments, pick our

fights, choose our lane stick to our convictions guard our time

and tell people no writing is a sacrificial activity you must be

willing to forego quote unquote worthy causes to carve out time

for writing. You simply cannot commit to loads of

extracurricular activities and maintain creative momentum.

asked me how I know to coordinate errands and everyday

activities get gas on the way to pick up groceries and

prescriptions. Choose one afternoon to get your hair cut

and the oil changed in your car. Make every time out of the house

count for two or more errands. Three. And this is going to be

sound kind of weird but store provisions for the winter. Like

the Ant and the Grasshopper from Aesop's Fables.

We can store stuff for the winter we all know is coming

emergencies are going to happen. So think ahead. I'm not a true

prepper but if i were i would have several episodes stored

away for future emergencies. This is something I am

determined to implement. I plan to use batching to accomplish

similar tasks during a given time block. So that is something

that authors can do. If you have similar tasks that need doing

batch them together, like creating social media posts,

choose an hour or two and do them do a whole lot of them

right then, and then that gives you some buffer. What are some

other ways we can use to create margin more about that in a

moment? Writing pursuits is run by Kathrese. McKee, who has been

new level of excellence. Guthrie's is a three story

methods certified editor who specializes in story

diagnostics, coaching, and line editing to help you prepare your

story for the journey ahead. For more information, go to writing

pursuits.com. The link is in the show notes. And now, back to the

podcast. So far, we have talked about doing less coordinating

errands, and repetitive tasks and storing provisions for the

winter. So number four, streamline and systematize. If

you plan to do any work activity more than once, it pays to

document the steps and save the materials for the next time

because there's no sense reinventing the wheel. So each

time you repeat a process like creating a newsletter or

launching a book, look for ways to improve, document it heap the

materials and then when you do it the next time perfect the

process continue this cycle over and over again. And this will

help you streamline and like get rid of the excess deadweight

that doesn't work. Number five, train others to do the work and

delegate tasks, when That'd be nice. As soon as you can justify

it offload the work you hate doing, like let's say accounting

to get more time for your creative work the work you love.

Number six, get adequate rest, exercise and hydration. You only

get one machine so you need to take care of it. I especially

disagree with the advice you hear all the time for authors

get up an hour earlier to write. Early morning writing is great.

If you make the other needed adjustments to compensate. get

adequate rest to think your best. I should emblazon that on

a t shirt. If you choose to be an early riser then go to bed

earlier to compensate. Resist the latest must watch television

series that tempts you to stay up late. Avoid binging on

YouTube and Tiktok man the times I've watched tick tock and it's

kept me up an hour later. Oh, what a waste of time. Anyway,

put it away before you go to bed so that you're not tempted get

adequate rest to think your best. Number seven. Prepare for

tomorrow's morning routine tonight. Lay out your clothes,

tidy up and help your kids do the same. That will take a whole

lot of stress out of the next day. Number eight. Don't over

schedule or double book your time. You don't have a time

turner like Hermione Granger, and said add buffer between

activities. Schedule extra time to drive places add extra time

for getting dressed, knock off the computer an hour before

bedtime. To read for pleasures, see what I did there. Those are

the eight ways I can think of right away to create margin in

our lives as authors. I'm sure I didn't think of everything and I

would love to hear your tips and tricks for creating margin.

Please share your ideas in the comments at writing proceeds.com

forward slash podcast forward slash 31. That's all I have for

today. Until next time, keep writing. Thank you for joining

us today. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a comment

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Tips for authors that link and all the links mentioned in

today's episode are in the show notes at writing pursuits.com.

Please join us on Wednesdays for new episodes and keep writing my