I intended to post another installment of The Story of Us today, but I haven’t quite gotten there yet. I promise I will post Part 3 soon.
Today, I want to tell you about a thought that has absolutely haunted me for the past year or so.
“…How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”
The quote is from Annie Dillard, who sneaked her way on to my list of favorite authors about 6 years ago. She is not always easy to read, but she is rich and dense and lovely.
I once gave her book The Writing Life to a friend I thought was a magnificent writer and that friend said, “Reading this made me realize that I am not actually a writer.”
Annie Dillard is like that. Reading that book actually made me sad to realize that I probably WAS a writer, and such was my lot in life.
Here is the whole block of text that follows the quote above. I find it so true about the importance of a schedule, probably not only for a writer, but for other creatives as well. The world is too intriguing, there is too much to explore. If I don’t nail down the hours, they always seem to float away.
“What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time. A schedule is a mock-up of reason and order—willed, faked, and so brought into being; it is a peace and a haven set into the wreck of time; it is a lifeboat on which you find yourself, decades later, still living.”
Mrs. Thor 
Brilliant – thank you so much for posting. It’s a good reminder. I find it difficult to maintain a schedule since I piecemeal my living together, so the day-to-day schedule is often varied. But the main point holds true, nonetheless.
Elena, I kind of make my schedule on the fly. I look to the hour and half-hour marks for guidance – should I be packing lunch now? Working out? Sitting down to write? It works well.
It’s funny how sometimes the incoming messages I receive start aligning. There is a post on this very topic at The Happiness Project blog today. The universe speaks, and I will listen!
Sarah, I am very much NOT a schedule-type person – however, for some reason, having at LEAST a loose idea of how my evenings will be spent has really helped me be more productive. It’s also improved my mood, probably because I feel like I am actually doing something with my life.