a balancing act

When I was a kid, I couldn't decide what I wanted to be on Career Day. Most years, I ping-ponged between my options; a police officer, a doctor, a teacher. However, one year, I boldly declared to my class that I wanted to be a wildlife and/or exotic veterinarian while being an author and poet. My teacher was surprised, which didn't happen often.

"How on earth are you going to do both?"

When they told the story to my mother later, they swore up and down that I put my hands on my hip and with a determined glint in my eye, I sassed, "it's called balance, [name redacted]."

I wonder what they would think of me now.

I may have not become a veterinarian of any kind, but ever since I started publishing on Vocal, I have had to learn how to juggle all the joys of adulthood (working, social calendar, etc.) with my writing.

And over the past six months (give or take), I've had to learn how to do it all over again.

Since February, I've been working two part-time jobs, and with the hours, I haven't been able to write and interact with everyone on Vocal like I would like, especially recently. I've also sporadically written anything as far as my next poetry collection or a story series idea I came up with earlier this year.

Saying all of this does not come from a place of guilt like it would have in the past. This is more of an acknowledgement and letting you guys know I haven't forgotten about you or writing. It's just some things have taken precedence, resulting in pushing my writing to the back burner.

That said, I made a promise to myself years ago. Writing will always be a part of my life, so no, I'm not taking a break. Presently, I'm trying to figure out a schedule of sorts so I can dedicate even a few minutes each day to Vocal, especially with the Vocal Summer Writing Series in play.

I now want to take this time to update you on a couple (and when I say a couple, I might mean three-ish) projects:

(1) A Poet's Dictionary: At the beginning of this year, slowly, but surely, I've worked on some poems for this collection. (Some have been published on Vocal.) Right now, I have almost 10 completely written and formatted, and ideas for 30 or so more. Originally, I had a goal of publishing 100 poems, but I'm starting to think that may be overkill. The thought of creating two, maybe three volumes has crossed my mind.

(2) The Anglerfish Series: I am so excited about digging into this one again, and the more I think about it, the more ideas I come with. Don't worry, I'm writing them all down. It will be while before I start publishing this though, because I want to write as much of it out before releasing the first part so I can publish on a set schedule.

(3, maybe) Fireflies?: This one came about thanks to a past challenge, but it open my eyes to something. It's made me realize what I kind of novels I would want to publish once I got my act together. I want my stories to be this light of hope, starting out a dimming flashlight that slowly gets brighter and brighter.

I want this story, despite the darker undertones, to be one of hope and strength for those who have be through such a horrible thing, to let them know they are survivors every day they keep going.

At this point, I haven't done anything more with this since I want to focus on the first two for a while.

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So that's where I am at as we've passed the halfway point of the year, trying to juggle everything.

Speaking of, anyone have any tips? I, and I'm sure others, would love to hear them.