It's so easy for life to get in the way of writing. Sometimes, I get bitter about it. My fingers itch to rumble over the keyboard, so I stay up till dawn -- which makes me even crankier the next day, especially because most of the time, those extra hours produced one measly paragraph, which I'll probably delete later anyway. (I don't work well after midnight).
But then I consider: Yes, sometimes life gets in the way -- but honestly, that's OK. Because every once in awhile we need to step back from our work and live our lives. Our real lives, away from the computer.
For writers, it doesn't take much to get drawn into our own worlds. That's fine, but when we do it for too long, we might miss out on a lot of rich, tangible experiences. Like throwing yourself off a giant sand dune. Or playing cowgirl in Fort Worth, Texas. Or joining up with the friend you've known since preschool to attend bartending school together -- just for kicks and giggles.
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| Jockey Ridge in Kill Devil Hills, NC. Yup, I rolled down that monster. |
So am I upset that I wasn't nearly as productive as I wanted to be this summer? No, not really -- because I've had some pretty spectacular adventures within the past few months, and I'm grateful for every one of them.
It's great to write, but let's not forget to live our own stories.
I so agree! This is perfect and sometimes I feel exactly the same way. But I am so glad we both took the time to play cowgirl in Ft. Worth this summer!
ReplyDeletePretty sure Texas was the highlight of my summer :)
DeleteSo, something I did was switch from writing late at night to writing early in the morning. I was astounded how much progress I made with that simply switch. At first it was an hour earlier, now I've pushed it to nearly 2 (and that's about as far as I can get with my current schedule, unfortunately). It's nice because there are no distractions from people, very little noise, and I think I've read your brain works better first thing in the morning, even if you are tired. This is coming from a severe night owl 99% of my life, so I totally get the hard to get up early thing.
ReplyDeleteI mention this because doing this seemed to both give me the time to write AND live my life. I've been feeling a lot more balanced. I really do love it and the progress I'm making.
But whatever you decide to do, always remember lots of people SAY they want to write a novel, you're doing it--and that's awesome! Keep on writing!
Distractions are the worst! For me, once I get distracted, it takes me forever to get refocused. What I need to do is make a writing schedule and stick to it!
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