Shonda Rhimes’s Ten-Minute Rule
Building your writing business one page at a time
When I signed up for Shonda Rhimes’s Masterclass, I expected to hear at least one great piece of advice. Something I could get up and do right away. I was not disappointed. At the time, I was working in sales and dreaming of one day being a full-time writer. I would take my lunch breaks and watch the lessons, twenty to thirty minutes at a time, on the laptop my boss made fun of me for bringing to my retail job.
My life was an overwhelming cycle of sleepless nights, baby diaper changes, daycare drop-offs, and a brutal work schedule that allowed me no weekends and very little time off. That is, the times I was not expected to be at work but still had to catch up with laundry and grocery shopping, as well as trying to squeeze in time to prep some meals in advance.
My days started when my baby woke up, usually at 4 a.m., and were done around 8 p.m., when I locked the store with my manager and went to my car to drive back home. The little time I spent with my toddler and my newborn were never quiet. Rather, I was typically making sure they were dressed, clean, fed, and taken where they needed to be so I could work. In hindsight, it was a punishing lifestyle, with all the wrong priorities.
