My mentor in grad school used to say all the time that "only writing is writing." It's very easy to throw yourself into writing-related activities and feel like you are writing because you're feeding part of your creative side. Writing-related activities are necessary and valuable but they should never crowd out real writing. The hard part is finding the balance between activities that stimulate your writing and activities that are a well-intentioned time suck. (I tell myself that this is why I am an irregular blogger--avoiding the time suck).
Coming from a culture of "if you see a job it's yours," I'm constantly fighting this battle. I take on more projects than I could possibly complete and feel the need to make everyone around me happy. It's Relief Society Sister Syndrome :) Dallin H. Oaks' "Good, Better, Best" talk helped a lot, but it's still a daily battle. I honestly want to do it all and periodically realize how ridiculous that sentiment is. Some people (myself included) say they wish they were more naturally "selfish" so this would come easier but I think the adjective we're looking for is "realistic." I wish I was more naturally realistic about my own capacities. I wish my actions were more consistently in line with my priorities.
Another time suck of mine is reading self-help books and when my latest book started quoting other books I've read I realized that there is no time management magic bullet. The basic idea in all of them is to figure out what's important to you and then do it. So....writing is important to me. I'm doing that. Other creative non-writing things will happen as they happen. I've made some big changes in the time I have allotted to the creative non-writing things in my life and if you're wondering why, this is why. Maybe I cut some things that I shouldn't have, but it feels good to at least start doing this. I'm sure I'll get better as time goes on!
