When things in your life go nuts, what gives? What do you let drop? And is that an indication of what is important to you?

This morning I had 30 minutes before an important client call, and for the first time in 2 weeks, I sat down to write a blog post. My sister (and others) have been elbowing me about not writing lately (“Hey, Beth… what gives? Where you been?”), and I really wanted to let the words I think all day and night flow again.

Then the phone rang. It was my sister. My little window of opportunity to write for myself (and for my neglected blog readers) slipped away.

My problem right now isn’t really time management. Frankly for the past two weeks or so I feel like I’ve been working and running nonstop. Work is hopping with major projects for several key clients. I’m the first to admit that I really fell off the productivity wagon this fall when I got the news about Mom. But I’m focused and productive and working my rear off these days, and I’m still behind. Really behind.

The second priority has been the boyfriend and his family. His parents were in town for 10 days, and we were getting together almost every evening. D.J. put them on a plane this morning, so perhaps that social obligation will be gone, but I still want to be a good girlfriend to D.J. and save some quality time for him.

Thirdly, I’ve committed myself to training for my fastest marathon ever. I went from working out 3-5 days a week to 5-7 days a week. And they’re not just little trips to the gym. Some of my workouts are 2 and 3 hours, and that’s been hard to schedule.

Oh, did I tell you I’m moving in with D.J. this month? Priority number four. We moved my bed over to his house for his parents to use, so I’m using my apartment as a day office and sleeping there at night. Of course, my clothes aren’t there. But for some reason, I can’t find anything here at the office either. I haven’t worn appropriate undergarments in more than a week. (Not the first time I’ve had this problem.)

So, I have work, family, training and moving as co-priorities, and that hasn’t left time for anything else. When the writing time started to slip away, I started to realize how important it is to me, and I wondered why I wasn’t making time to do it. If it’s so important, why did I let it go for so long?

As the clock ticks quickly toward my second anniversary as a professional freelance writer, I realize more and more that I want to work more toward writing for myself. I’ve proven that I can write for other people because I’ve found and retained clients who pay me to write for them. I consider that a success. But now that I think back to the decision I made to start writing in the first place, I realize I wanted to freelance for other people because I wasn’t as confident as I needed to be about my own writing. Now that I’ve established that I can write for other people, I feel more excited about writing for myself.

In sum, I’ve been busy. That’s what gives. But my life of late has helped me realize what’s important to me, and I’ll get back to writing for you and for me very, very soon.