The Balancing Act

Everybody has their own limits. I had to learn to take breaks and schedule down time. I don't write on the weekends, take an hour nap before my kids get home from school and get to bed by 10:30 every night, I also take up to a week off between big writing projects.

Adding these basic down times helps keep my mind fresh.

I d</SPAN>on't know what to tell you except to find your burnout point and don't pass it. I've been in your situation, and I learned that the only way I could get everything done was to avoid trying to do too much of anything.

I learned there's a certain number of hours I can't pass without eventually burning out. I might go three or four, or seven weeks writing past this number of hours, but it always meant certain burnout somewhere down the road.

So I learned to say no. I reserved a given number of hours for nonfiction, and a given number of hours for my own fiction, and no matter what, I didn't exceed those hours.

Only fiction deadlines changed this, and I did everything possible not to let them back me into a corner.

It is a balancing act, and learning to say no is the best way to keep your balance.