Here's a question...
How do you balance your lives? How do you balance poetry & spoken word with the other aspects of your lives like work, family, & friends? Where do you draw the line?
I've dug myself into the discussion board here. Mainly cuz it's really slow at work but also because it's easier than making it out to events all over the city. Perhaps in time, as money becomes less of an issue I'll be able to make it out to more events. But I'll still have to decide how much of a priority I make it in my life.
I'd be really interested to hear how each of you wrestles with this.
Peace !!!
I do this poetry/real-life-stooge balance thing carefully.
First of all, most of my friends are poets. I see them at shows. My non-poet friends I make time to see as often as I can, but not all that much. So friends are the easiest.
Family is much more difficult. Since I live in Ottawa but most of my fam is in T-dot, I rarely see them. I do make time for my kids, though, as much as I can within the natural constraints of living apart from them. Without going into the drama, I interact with them as much as circumstances allow at the moment.
With work, I creatively use my leave days to book time to go do shows all over the place. Past trips to Nashville, Halifax, Vancouver, St. John's, Montreal and Toronto, and future trips to Burlington, London and Australia will be taken while on my annual leave. For some gigs (if you get paid well enough for the gig) you can take unpaid days off if it becomes necessary.
It is through this approach that I have been able to do what I do. It's interesting, it's fun, and it's possible because I work for the feds. Don't know how well it would work for anyone who works in the private sector, though.