Paralysis by Analysis

There is a term called Paralysis by Analysis that refers to the phenomenon of gathering so much data and looking at a problem for so long that the resulting lack of progress or lack of a decision outweighs the benefit of performing the analysis.

I am most familiar with the term within the context of business, but it’s a problem for athletes, musicians, artists, writers and I’d venture a guess to anyone about to embark on a big decision or project.

I am there with my writing. Between reading Blogs and books on craft, I have started to write and then rejected at least six stories over the last month. The additional information I’m absorbing is all extremely valuable, but it’s intimidating and impossible to absorb entirely. Ignorance was bliss 21,000 pages into the draft novel I started several months ago and I won’t say there isn’t some salvageable material in there, but now that I’m starting to know what I don’t know, it’s almost overwhelming.

I have no sense of place! The theme is unclear! The characters don’t have enough depth! The stakes aren’t high enough! The tension isn’t high enough! I’m not saying anything new! Yikes!

Alright, that’s enough of a meltdown. I know what I need to do. I have enough information to go back to the drawing board and frame my ideas with the new insights I’ve gained. Better now than into the third or fourth revision of my first manuscript.

For the rest of the week, I’ll plot and diagram out my story, get a new draft started and I will not read anything new except good fiction so I can remember what it looks like.

It’s all about balance. Did I mention last week that’s a challenge for me?

Finding Balance

People who know me well have always told me I never do anything halfway, and that’s true. Unfortunately, my tendency toward compulsive behavior is rarely mentioned as a positive trait and I can understand that. I’ve never been very good at maintaining balance in my life. Whether it’s been a job or a hobby or one of my many interests, I generally jump in with both feet to the detriment of everything else. I think everyone has something he or she is preoccupied with to a degree. Sometimes it’s self-destructive, like substance abuse or participating in unhealthy relationships. For others it’s pursuing a successful career, raising kids, keeping a gorgeous house, making money, saving money, having a baby, dieting, working out, bike riding, curing cancer or a million other things. This is probably a good thing. There are a lot of great books that never would have been written, art that never would have been made, science and technology that wouldn’t have been developed and social changes that wouldn’t have happened if not for the unrelenting drive behind most worthwhile creations.

I want to write and I want to do it well. Balancing my priorities and my obligations and learning to accept the limitation that I can’t just quit my job and focus all my energy on writing is the challenge. My job requires a lot of time, I have a husband and extended family, and the day to day chores we all have. As long as I stay with my current job, I can continue to buy more freedom by paying down our mortgage and saving, but it will continue to take a lot of focus and time from other areas of my life. I can do that. What I can’t be sure of is whether or not that leaves me enough time to dedicate to reading, writing and learning more about the writing craft to satisfy my desire to do it and to get a realistic sense for whether or not I can do it successfully. My idea of success as a writer is to be able to, at some point, work less than a forty hour week and still live a reasonably comfortable life. Am I procrastinating and trying to have my cake and eat it too if making major financial sacrifices isn’t part of my plan? Will consistently writing a couple of hours a night and on weekends be enough? Can a person really be disciplined enough to find a satisfying balance between family, job and writing? I haven’t even mentioned the elephant in the room. I know I can become technically proficient, do all I don’t have what it takes. It’s far too early to guess, but I can live with that. I don’t think I could live with it if I didn’t try.

I would love to hear from writers who’ve managed balance work, family and writing.