Still here! Yeah!!
Though I have had to take some time off and have been kicking myself about it, feeling guilty, and then I realised how counterproductive it was. Life often throws a spanner in the works, and we can either fight it - kicking and screaming or we can ride it out. I have decided to go with the flow. Rather than stressing over work not done, I observe and take everything in and store it and consider it research and, therefore, work done! That said, I have made a decision, a commitment to myself. I have decided to pay myself to write. I intend to draft a contract to specify my hourly rates and give myself some deadlines. As someone who seems to thrive under pressure and with lots of balls in the air, I think this will make me sit down and write rather than finding windows to polish, dishes to wash, dogs to groom, in short, procrastinating.
As Paul Rudnick said, “Writing is 90% procrastination. It is a matter of doing everything you can to avoid writing until it is about four in the morning and you reach the point where you have to write.”
So, I will sign a contract to deliver my script by the deadline. I will pay myself (after all I don't want to work for free) and I may even give myself a bonus for finishing early. And the bonus? I can save up to take my kids somewhere to make up for the time their mum is a zombie lost in her head, staring at a screen and mumbling strange dialogue under her breath...
So, yes, I am still here!
Welcome back, Zuzana Fort. There's a lot of great advice in your second paragraph creatives can use for their careers and self-care.
Paying yourself to write and a bonus are big motivators. $5MM and a $1MM bonus! :D
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Glad to have you back and love the commitment!
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Ah, yes, a $5MM bonus would be fabulous, though I'm looking at a $5 bonus right now... I'd take a massage to fix all those back problems and sore muscles from sitting in front of a screen.
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Zuzana Fort well done for sticking with it.