The Challenge of Juggling

Writer’s Log: Stardate 12-1-5

I have long been a multi-tasker. Even now I am watching the financial news out of one eye as I write this, and listening for the occasional “zing” indicating that an email—that will be read immediately—has just arrived. Professionally, I have worn so many hats for the past few years that I literally don’t know how to tell people “what I do.” I have simultaneously taught almost a full load of classes while editing as many as three major publications and doing a lot of writing on the side.

Although multi-tasking can be fun—who doesn’t like to play on their laptop while watching a ball game on TV and chatting with their friends?—there are times when I long for the simplicity of doing just one thing. I think writing is best appreciated when it can be the main thing on your mind. A few times last summer, while writing in my gazebo, I came close to this, but only because I had put other projects out of my mind.

Right now I want to get back to working on my book but life is not that simple. I got a request yesterday to submit an article to Harvard’s Icthyus magazine, a Christian journal produced largely by undergraduates. Their invitation was so winsome that I have to say yes. I also received an announcement for the American Scientific Affiliation’s summer conference at Point Loma Nazarene University, which I think I will attend and probably prepare a paper for. And Gordon College wants me to produce a magazine with undergraduates this spring and they need a template right away.  Tomorrow I meet with Amy Carleton to work on a new non-profit project called acamedia that we hope to launch soon.

The main thing I need to do today though, is get started on a major grant proposal to the Templeton Foundation. I have been invited to submit what they call a “Full Proposal” for three years of part-time support to write blogs and other short pieces on Science & Religion. This is a win-win project that deserves the many hours of time it will take.

I hope to meet up with Adam later today, but it is not looking good right now.

Writer’s Log Supplemental: Stardate 12-1-5

I just got an email from agent in New York. He told me that my editor, who I had lunch with a few weeks ago, said she really liked meeting me. And my publisher told him yesterday that she was really happy that Creating Adam would be published with them. That, as my mother used to say, is “better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.”