A quick scroll will tell you that I’m not winning any awards for world’s best blogger probably ever in my lifetime, but here’s an interesting pattern I’ve found in my writing habits: I’m more apt to blog when I’m busy than when my schedule is virtually empty.

Blame it on my anti-social-media husband who would rather keep me busy watching movies and looking at houses than clacking away at a keyboard after dinner…

BTW, November's NaNoWriMo attempt was successful. I win!

Blame it on the fact that I am, by nature, a 90-or-nothin brand of go-getter and when I’m idling at zero, I might as well be parked…

This is my brain between burnout and inspiration.

Blame it on the superwoman complex that kept me standing during undergrad ’08-’09, which I barely remember because sleeping got nixed from the to-do list that year.

We go way back.

When I’m being lazy, a literal fire under my you-know-what may be the only thing able to get me off the couch. But when I’m inspired to be productive, I suddenly get the urge to tack blogging and writing projects back onto my weekly to-do list. My husband is exasperated and perplexed by this and I think he fears I may actually be crazy, but I just smile and shrug my shoulders as if to remind him, “Sorry, Charlie. This is what you get.”

So, dear reader (who may, in fact, only be my father at this point), this is what you get. Batten down the hatches because a storm of productivity (or just plain-ol-activity) is coming your way. I started my MFA on Tuesday so there will be much to blog about. However, I may also be starting a ghostwriting project on top of school, work, volunteering at church, and house hunting, so there will be much to keep me from blogging. C’est la vie.

Incensed? Provoked? Inspired? Affected? Aroused? Inflamed? Infused? Sparked? Emboldened?

I don’t know if any word quite pins the emotion I experience when I read another startup success story. Especially when it comes from @sarahjbray. The girl is a maven of all things media. She is the Napoleon of digital nations. She is master of the online free world. Her scepter remains unchallenged. When I peruse her latest success at A Small Nation, it literally feels like a hot water balloon filling fast and bursting somewhere in the middle of me. And I’m not the kind to use “literally” liberally.

My heart starts beating and my mind starts racing to the vision of what that dream-come-true moment looks like in my life. Every time I think I’ve got it figured out, that I’m heading in a solitary direction–the one that’s going to take me home to This Is It–the road widens again and the opportunities before me start ticking at my mental fortitude like school kids on a Jenga tower.

I’m starting my MFA in Script and Screenwriting in January. I know it’s what I’m supposed to be doing. It’s what I’ve been not-so-patiently waiting for these last 3+ years. Not all that long in lifespan terms, I realize. But the Man Upstairs seems to know the rather constricting boundaries of my “longsuffering” tolerance and I am incredibly grateful. I work for a university with one of the best MFA Script programs on the east coast and I get tuition benefits. I couldn’t have made up a better plan!

At the same time, I am pursuing freelance ventures with vigor, thinking about future family plans and asking myself, how does it all work together? I know there’s a Superwoman inside convincing me that I can accomplish everything I want to and still get dinner on the table. But the logistics are starting to get muddied by that little number 24.

That’s the number of hours in a day (in case you forgot). I’ve been trying to create more since I was in high school. Ten years later, I’m no closer than I was as a 14yr old honor student, cheerleader, marching band geek, mime artist, dancer, church volunteer, and choir member. Hmm…PR writer, MFA student, freelance writer, social media advisor, event planner. Looks like I haven’t learned much, does it? Oi vey.

What I have learned in my 10 year career as an Hour Defier is that the only way to make the most of everything I’ve been given is to take this journey one (boldly but carefully placed) step at a time.

Before I committed to writing a blog post over my lunch hour, I should have come up with a decent idea to write about. Instead, I’ve been typing and deleting different sentences over and over again, checking facebook (for inspiration, of course), checking Twitter (also for inspiration), reading emails, and coming back to stare at my blank blog post page.

*sigh*

I should be brimming with ideas, ya know? I just moved to a cool new state and started a cool new job, but all’s been quiet on the writer’s front (ha. double entendre.)

However, this seemingly lost hour may not be totally forgone. I learned a few things.

1. If you’re going to write over your lunch break, do it away from your desk.

Emails pop up. Your files and browser tabs are probably still open. People pass your door and wonder if you’re working and slacking or breaking and working. It’s just not an environment conducive to creativity. I passed a beanbag display at Walmart last night, hesitating about whether it was appropriate for an office or not. I’ve decided to go back and get it if for no other reason but to do my lunch hour writing. My office is pretty small, but there’s enough room for me to step away from my work station, slump down in a comfy bean bag, and type something on my soon-to-be-purchased netbook for an hour, or even half an hour. Next time I do this, I’ll close my door, turn off my work monitor, and transform my little space into a little haven.

2. If you’re going to write over your lunch break, be prepared.

An hour isn’t very long. In fact, it’s super short. And when you know you only have an hour, those 60 minutes seem to spit by like a Nascar commercial. Come to the midday writing session with material. If it’s a blog post, have an idea or a list of ideas to start from. If it’s a story or script, decide beforehand which scene you want to give attention to. If it’s a free write session, don’t over think it. I added “Blog over lunch” to my daily to-do list, but didn’t give enough thought to it to make the hour fruitful…besides preaching at myself through this post.

3. If you’re going to write over your lunch break, write.

“Duh,” yes? Yes. Your social networks can wait til the 3:00 coffee break or the 5:00 shut down. They’ll still be there. Promise. So will your personal emails and the list of random things about which you’ve said “Oh I should Google that.”

Okay so I came out of this hour with a blog post after all. But next time I’m going to spend the whole 60 minutes writing…not just the last 15.

Yes, Aladdin… don’t you know me by now? I know it’s been a ridiculously long time since I’ve blogged, but I’m just going to pretend a quarter of a year hasn’t passed since my last post and keep typing. So I’ve now made it through my first week at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia, as a Public Relations Writer.

As such, I’ve

• gotten 5 assignments,
• finished 3 stories,
• photographed 2 events,
• and got suckered into 1 $11 lunch.

It wasn’t an easy 5 days, and there were plenty of almost-panic-attacks, but there were also moments in which my stomach fluttered a little and I caught myself marveling at the fact that this is my JOB! I love everything about what I’m doing and while I recognize that there’s often a honeymoon period at the beginning of any new endeavor, I can see myself sticking it out with this one for a long time.

I’ve been trying to internalize these moments as snapshots of pure satisfaction and contentment, so I can remember how momentous this job, this move halfway across the country has been.

Everything about this move is right. The feeling reminds me very much of author Stacie Eldredge’s definition of Beauty: It speaks, “All is well, and all will be well.” With every friendly reunion and with every new face I meet, that is what I feel. All is well, and all will be well.

Of course, all will be better once Hubs arrives this week. He is still 6 days away from experiencing Virginia Beach as our new home and I can only hope and believe he will sense the same perfect rightness when he steps out of the rental truck onto Virginian soil. Yay for Happily Ever After 2.0!!

CUE “A WHOLE NEW WORLD”

But as with every transition of this nature, the question is raised, what will we do with our time? That may not seem like an obvious question in light of a big move and new jobs, but time is our most valuable resource. If we don’t decide how to master it, time will master us. So when we’re not at our new jobs or looking for our new home, who are we going to be? what will we do? The prospect is both freeing and terrifying all at once. I have the rare opportunity to re-prioritze my life and all I know is this: Writing is getting a promotion.

There is still much adjusting to be done–moving, finding a second income, settling into our church community, etc. But when the haze clears, I know I’m going to like what I see. This new season is going to be a good one. Nay–a shining, shimmering, splendid time in our lives.