Knowing Your Limits

I am pretty good at setting limits in my day-to-day life.  I know exactly how far I can push myself before I snap and have made sure the people around me are aware of my breaking point.  For example, the guy who graciously gives me my caffeine fix each morning  knows to keep the chit-chat to under ten words until I am at least two lattes deep.  I know never to start the laundry after 10:15 at night because there is no way in hell I will be awake long enough to switch it to the dryer.  And my friends know never, never to ask me to meet them for breakfast.  Suffice it to say, I don't play well with others first thing in the morning.   

When it comes to writing . .  well let's just say I have a tinsy problem finding my limits.  I love to beta read and frequently, as I do now, have five or six beta projects going on at one time.  I enjoy giving back to a writing community that has helped me achieve every small milestone in my journey to publication. Unable to limit myself to just one niche, I write cross-genre -- Sci-fi and YA contemporary.  I also can't stick to one manuscript at a time.  Since I started writing, I have always had two manuscripts going at once, toggling back and forth between them as my muse sees fit.   

My inability to set reasonable boundaries in my writing life has been more of a blessing than a curse.  It has allowed my to forge some amazing friendships, forced me to write outside my comfort zone, and given me the pleasure of being the first to read some of the most amazing manuscripts.  So, in at the spirit of expanding my "no limits writing theory" into my every day life, I will engage in a twenty-word conversation with my barista tomorrow.  I will start a load of laundry at exactly 10:20pm (then spend the morning swearing at my too damp  to wear clothes,) and I will consider, consider meeting my girlfriends for a late, very late brunch.