The one-track heart

I have noticed something.

I can't focus on more than one thing at the same time. No, I'm not talking about sex.
What I mean is I can't give all my energy into more than one project at a time. I can't care about more than one thing. I have a one-track heart. You know, not the organ that delivers blood to your body, the part of your mind that is full of passion and worries and obsessions (it's not my fault if our forefathers thought that was located in our ribcage rather than our skull).

This is my explanation for not doing any writing recently. My job was all-consuming. It was the thing I thought about before going to bed, had nightmares about and seemed to be the main subject of conversation I had with pretty much anybody. Now that I am not going to work every day and instead am doing a research proposal, that seems to be the thing on my mind all the time (and which I talk about all the time - sorry, Mark!). I've had more free time in the last few weeks than since the summer holidays. And yet I haven't been able to think about writing, because all my energy and brain-space has been devoted to my research proposal.

The problem is that if you want to write something, it's probably best to do a little bit every day (did you know this also applies to research theses? What do you mean I'm getting sidetracked?). But, especially in fantasy, you need to immerse yourself in the world your have created. It means my one-track heart needs to stay focussed on the writing - and that's only possible if there's nothing else in my life I care deeply about. You know. Like my career.

What happens is that I won't write for ages. Then, like now, there'll be some freed up space in my head, and my writing waves frantically in the background so I take a closer look. But by the time I've re-read what I'd written, remember what the heck my dates mean and why I'd decided the make those changes last time, the free afternoon has evaporated and I haven't written a word.

I don't know how other people do it. HOW DO YOU DO IT, PEOPLE? I mean people who have a day job that they care about - hey it's easy to find time to write when you're bored out of your mind. I know. I've been there. But how do you juggle up your head space to make room for writing?

I'd like to know.