January 13, 2009
In yesterday’s post, I was whining because I don’t take enough time to read…but the truth is, sometimes, I don’t do much writing, either. Take this past weekend and this week, for example. I finished a draft of my revised novel on Friday, but I’ve been struggling to get the next project rolling ever since. There have been too many distractions and non-writing tasks that have kept me on the move. Some hardliners might simply say I haven’t been trying hard enough, that I haven’t been disciplined enough to do the writing the way I know I should. But the truth is, I set out with good intentions and would like nothing better than to start work on a fresh writing project right now. Unfortunately, life sometimes gets in the way. For example, my day job has been unusually busy, requiring extra effort late in the day after quitting time. My father-in-law’s computer wouldn’t let him access the internet, so I (as the family’s so-called computer fixer) had to work on it at his house last night, then take it to a repair person today, then retrieve it and reinstall it at his home this evening. (This job also ate time over the weekend.) Plus, I’m trying to sell dining room furniture and a bed in time for the delivery of new items we just bought. And then there are all the myriad little tasks and side distractions: phone calls, bills, checking account statements, etc. It all adds up and sucks the day dry, leaving me with no new fiction writing in the can. Talk about frustrating! It’s especially discouraging because I’m hoping to finish my new novel by an early May writing workshop in Oregon; if I don’t start soon, I just won’t make the deadline. Maybe I’ll have better luck tomorrow. See you then!
