The past two weeks have been one big bummer. Actually the last 13 days to be exact. My kids have managed to tag team being sick, and it’s meant almost every one of those nights (minus 2 or 3 in the middle) I’ve been up feeling foreheads every 2-3 hours. So at the end of the day when my brain is fried, writing feels like a mountain I just don’t have the tools to climb. I know this is just a small season, but no matter what is going on I seem to always find an excuse not to write. Instead I talk about it, I dream about it, anything but actually doing it. If not for this writer’s group (bless you girls) I would simply be an always talking wannabe writer. Atleast now, I feel like I’m on the road to leaving the wannabe status.
My current project – current meaning from the past 4 years! – is nowhere near the subject matter of my world right now. If I have free time, I don’t feel like I have enough time or energy to get into the zone, so I opt for no writing (unless we have an assignment – thanks FWWG!). Awful, I know.
So this gets me to the topic of focus and discipline…How do you put away your world and focus on what you want to write about? And more importantly, what makes you actually sit down and do it?
April 1, 2008 at 10:12 pm
I find it’s not always possible or even reasonable to “put away” your world to write.
Sometimes a crisis(like taking care of sick kids)IS your focus, and any scraps of time you have left are taken up by necessities or getting rest you’re being deprived of as you care for others. And, as sexist as it sounds, most times these duties fall to the women in the family.
Those things can be very stressful, and you need to be kind to yourself- not chastize yourself for not writing.
On days where there is no crisis, I try to pick a similar time each day; early morning after my daughter goes to school, or after dinner when my daughter is doing her homework. It doesn’t always work out, but often it does.
Some people might say that you don’t want it bad enough if you make excuses not to write. I fsvor the opinion that if you don’t write but still think about it, maybe that just means that right now you have other priorities that outweigh your desire to write- unless you’re spending your time sitting on the couch eating bon-bons and contemplating your navel.
Good luck- you’ll write when you’re ready.
April 2, 2008 at 8:18 pm
This is a struggle for me as well. I can’t make my sinus/allergy issues go away or even tuck them away for a few hours. The writing thoughts I do have seem disjointed, probably because I’m a little disjointed right now. So, I write in bursts as my body and schedule allow. In many ways, I see this stage of the writing journey as a gift: I’m not letting an editor down (other than myself), and my livelihood doesn’t depend on my writing. So life is good, even through these itchy, watery eyes.
April 4, 2008 at 2:49 am
I stay up reeeeally late and that’s the only way I get anything written.
April 5, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Nancy – Thanks for the thoughts and encouragement. I really appreciate it
A – I guess we all have something…hope those issues get better post-Spring.
SP – I love the night owl in you!