I just noticed a trend in my productivity. Although I’m writing every day, I’m not making the progress I would like on my book. Usually I can whip up several pages (not necessarily clean, but at least they’re pages I can work with) but recently I’ve seen my production slide and I’ve just discovered why. I’m always writing but not necessarily on my book. I’m writing blogs, newsletters, articles, emails, ad copy, essays, reports and proposals and all of these activities are taking away from my first love—writing fiction.

I could blame the fact that I had to promote my first non-fiction book, or the fact that I have a company to run and other books to promote, or that I want readers to think of me even when I don’t have a new release out. But blame is a useless occupation and depressing (I find that it just makes you feel like a helpless puddle of slime, but that’s just me). I chose to write other projects and therefore must suffer the consequences.

So my solution is this: to cut back. I won’t be writing as many ‘extra’ articles as I did last year. It’s difficult for me to let something go, especially when key people in the industry say you must be a presence on the web or get your name in front of as many people as you can. That’s nice, but as Jennifer Crusie says in her article Taking Out the Garbage: How to Protect Your Work and Get Your Life you have to set priorities. If I stop writing fiction, I won’t have a career as a novelist (as a writer yes; as a novelist no). A good novel will impact my career or brand my name more than any blog or newsletter will and, let’s be honest, will reach more people.

Therefore, I have decided to protect my creativity. From now on I will devote my time to writing novels and make the other less of a priority. And if I don’t do this, I have no one to blame but myself.