A To Z - Demands Of The Times

If you haven't put in an entry for my 200 Followers contest, get yourself over to yesterday's post and do so.  I can't imagine anyone who couldn't use a reason to go buy more books.

For today's A To Z though, we're going to talk about Demands.  This is a subject close to my heart, because it's something I struggle with constantly.  What I'm talking about are demands on my time.  If you're anything like me, you have way too many things you could be doing (or should be doing) and not enough hands and feet to juggle it all with.  No, I'm not an accomplished foot juggler, but wouldn't that be an interesting ability?

Anyway, I have always found that I have way too many interests, responsibilities, and obligations.  And unfortunately, I never have enough time to do them all.  So how do I overcome this problem?  Eh, I just wing it, which probably doesn't help much.  On the good side, I am trying to cultivate some kind of organizational calendar of sorts, but it's a rough road for me to travel.

One important thing I've learned lately is how important it is to make writing a priority.  Okay, I've been told that over and over but maybe it's just recently sinking in.  I had a dry spell where I wasn't even putting an effort into making time for writing.  The minute I sat down and started working on it again (editing, no less), I felt invigorated.  I haven't yet squeezed in writing every single day, but at least it's more often than never at all.

If we steer this topic towards how we write, have you ever thought about the demands placed upon your characters?  We often envision entire stories in our heads, but if we can consider how the rest of the world affects things (because only hermits can avoid some kind of affect from the world around them - and that's only a maybe), it throws a new dynamic into our writing.  I can't say I remember to do it all the time myself, but I'm learning to alter my thinking in that direction.

Demands are a tricky beast.  If we get too overloaded (or our characters do), nothing gets accomplished.  But if we have nothing demanding our attention, we're a pretty boring story.

Have you taken a look lately at the demands on your time (or your characters)?  Are they in tune with where you'd like them to be?