What's Balance Got To Do With It?

I know I'm not the only aspiring indie author who works a full time job. I know that I'm also not the only aspiring indie authors who works in education. Heck, I know more than one of us that works in the exact subject as I do (shout out to my fellow music educator indie authors!). I know I'm not alone in this somewhat double life, but I never hear anyone talk about how they try to balance it all.

The author side of things is where you hear stuff like "Make sure you write a little every day!" or "Set aside time to dedicate to your craft." The education side is where you hear other lines: "The expectation is to work until the job is done." (Surprise: It's literally never done).

I'm fortunate enough to work with some pretty great people who come together to get big jobs done. I also have a lot of support from my co-workers and admin team when it comes to my author dreams. But I would be lying if I said that balancing things is easy.

Prime example: I'm writing this blog at 4:39 a.m. If you know me personally, your first thought would most likely be that I have been replaced by an alien pod person. Would this news sit a bit better if I told you I had coffee in hand?

I started 2025 with the plan of completing the first draft of my long shelved Nutcracker retelling by the end of February. I'm also working with my editor to prep "Restitching Destiny" and "A Desire for Starlight" to release, possibly in the first quarter of the year. And while I'm sure for some that's not a big deal work load wise, I'm already wondering if I bit off a bit more than I can chew.

Reason being is this: my music teacher day job has this "extra duty" - the school wide musical. And I love it; don't get that twisted in the slightest. It is such fun, and I've had students audition and participate year after year. I get to see these kids grow up and learn to become some awesome performers. But like anything you want to put out into the world - the musical program takes time. I work on rehearsal tools for it throughout the summer, advertise auditions to the school as soon as we return from summer break, audition in early September, and start rehearsals by mid-September. After winter break, we hold three rehearsals a week. We help kids memorize lines, develop characterization, understand stage directions, encourage student leadership all while creating choreography, compiling and planning costuming, incorporate microphones and lights... and that's just the 'in the show' stuff. That doesn't count the fundraising, community outreach, meal coordination, advertising. Even as I'm typing it I'm realizing how freaking much is involved with this program that I've built up and loved so much.

I'm rambling a bit, but what I'm getting at is - come end of February I've got to pump the breaks on the author side of my life a bit so I can get through the musical director side of it. And it's understandable, but it also frustrates me. I wonder what it's like to be an author who can balance it all, all the time.

Any advice? Thoughts? Am I just typing into the void here?