For most of my life, writing has been something I loved doing. But, there were always fits and starts, droughts and floods. Until the past two years, writing was never my priority and I only did it when I felt like it.
In the last year, being at home, I’ve really focused on making writing a priority. I do it mostly every day. Or, I DID it mostly every day there for a long time. For some reason, in the past few months, I fell off the wagon. It wasn’t a drought exactly. I worked on my edits for my upcoming novel, I revised and submitted another novel, I’ve done writerly things, but I haven’t actually sat down and written something new most days.
With NaNo, obviously I’m back to writing mostly every day. There are days I don’t write if we have company or if Hubby is home and naps don’t align, but I make up for those words I miss.
Except this weekend. I had a good 30 minutes on Sunday that I could have written. I stared at Pinterest. I checked Twitter. I didn’t write. I “couldn’t”.
I thought about giving up NaNo. I thought about refocusing things. I thought about everything except sitting down and putting words to computer screen. Because, once you fall off the writing almost every day wagon, it’s hard to get back on. The excuses seem plausible. Starting over with something else seems like a good way to revitalize yourself. But none of those things are the solution.
Nicole Helm 