Writing is hazardous to my butt

I am convinced that it's difficult if not impossible for me to focus on two different areas of my life at the same time and do them both well.

Case in point- my absence from the gym over the last few months while I have been doing a major rewrite on my novel, blogging and writing for a newspaper. My butt, which I fear is a bit softer these days, has been plunked in front of my computer for hours and hours a day, and has not been doing lunges or trekking on an elliptical machine.

I've never been good at balance. Four years ago I went on a tear and was at the gym 6 days a week. I realized maybe I'd gone overboard when I began scheduling my life around my workouts, stressing when an interview I needed to do conflicted with an aerobics class. I was just a little bit nutty.

I've haven't been doing nothing (she said defensively) I do walk and do some yoga, well, sometimes. We've had a really cold and wet winter so it hasn't exactly been conducive to lots of long walks outside. And the yoga? Well, I get writing in my pajamas many mornings then panic when I look at the clock and realize it's embarrassing that I'm still not showered and dressed and skip the yoga as I rush through a shower.

I realize this may be a bit of a time management problem, that if I just got up and exercised BEFORE I got caught up in research and e-mail that might solve the problem. But common sense has never been my strong suit, and there's something about slowly waking up while I answer some e-mails. Unfortunately this often leads to seeing if TMZ caught any exciting celebrity hijinks's overnight that I just have to know about, or seeing what's on sale at the Gap this week.

Now that spring is on its way I have decided that I have to emerge from my soft-tummied cocoon and get back on the stick, well, treadmill and start firming up again. I am absolutely convinced that there is indeed a way for me to create some balance - that I can work really hard AND find time to work out.

And I'll look into that right after I go read Jezebel and file my next Be Green column. As soon as I do that I'm going to go exercise.

I'll let you know how it works out, or if I really do.

Update: I DID go to the gym, and I even exercised more than I chatted. Well, at least it was pretty even.