Since I first heard the fictional Dr. Ian Malcolm utter the words "chaos theory" in 1993, I've known it applied to more than just nature and our cutesy little human attempts to tame it.
Writing has been my personal study in the field. Mix in the appointments of two kids, the often inflexible schedule of a lovely and talented spouse, a job needed to pay bills and better our lives, and a little ole dream of moving up to the next level with my writing career and you've got all the components needed for an experimental out-of-control group sure to keep the scientist and their empirical buddies busy for generations. In fact, these sorts of goals have done just that for just that long.
With a gung-ho attitude and the support of the family, I've been able to devote more time to the pen (read: keyboard" and the words are flowing. It's a good feeling.
Turns out the experts were right all along. Guess that's why they're experts. You've just got to put ass in chair and fingers on keyboard. You've got to juggle your schedule for every scrap of a minute and make them writing related. I can't write for five minutes here and ten minutes there and my life is dripping with these opportunities. If I could add them all up into one chunk they would amount to hours a week. Hours! Give me an hour and I can get into the zone and churn out some prose. Since I can't always have that spare time all at once, I use those minutes to do the stuff that doesn't require "the zone." I keep it writing related - answering emails, fact-checking, reviewing markets - but I don't waste it.
As of today, out on submission are six stories. A seventh will find its way into the inbox of a market by tonight. That's down from my record of 31 stories on submission a couple of years ago, but up from my lone story in the slush pile a few weeks ago. Life is good.
So now to take this chaos theory life scheduling and move ahead. More stories. More family time. More productive at work. More sleep. And, yes, more rampaging T-rexes.
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