1. Reading. Books. Blogs. Emails. More blogs. Kids’ book reports. Mail. Junk mail. Advertisements. Old letters. Magazine articles.
2. Sleeping. I’m actually a much more productive writer in my dreams. Bummer.
3. Sadness. Some small but difficult things have happened over the past three months (which we’ll talk about later), and I have found it hard to be clever on the page. Things come out rather heavy and jolty, which is SO wrong for me.
4. Parenting. This is a laughable excuse since all 4 Kids are in school all day. But since school re-started, I’ve done a load of PTA-related school-Momming. And it gets in the way. So it goes on the list. I fully recognize those of you who do way, way, WAY more hands-on Momming during daylight hours and still manage to be writers. (A, I’m looking at you…)
5. Cooking. I’m on a healthy-food kick right now, so “cooking” isn’t even all that accurate – I’m eating more raw veg and fruit than a spider monkey. (I don’t know if that is actually true. I am not planning to do the research required to find out.) But I’m studying about food. And learning many fine things. Also baking some truly gorgeous brown breads (that have the bonus quality of tasting PERFECT.)
6. Fear. What am I afraid of? Oh, please. The answer is a post of its own. A very long one.
7. Stickiness. Do your writing projects get sticky parts? (Sticky Parts would be an excellent band name.) What do you do about those sticky parts? When I get stuck, I take a step backward (out of the stickiness, if I’m lucky) and decide: is this project worth the effort it will take to blast past this? If it is, I push. I sometimes find alternatives and work through several of them. I sometimes ask for help. But do you know that sometimes the project is not right? And that the stuck-ness is bigger than the project in the first place? And then I put it away. With a title or a note or something, so I could find it again someday, when I’m a much better writer with more cool brain-tools to do the project right. Or sometimes I just forget it.
8. Laziness. Ditto last sentence of above.
9. Small Annoyances. There is a dog somewhere outside my house (because Heaven forbid there EVER be a dog inside my house) that has been barking ALL DAY. Also all evening yesterday. People: It is cold. High temp of 20 today. Take Rover inside where he will be warm and I will not have to listen to his complaints. It’s totally stopping me from writing the great American novel. Thanks a lot.
10. Excuses. Do you live in a world where blog posts count as writing? Sometimes I do. And, you know, it IS writing. See these? These here are what we call WORDS. I wrote them. With my fingers on the keyboard. The words came out of my mind. (Out of my mind. Let’s just focus on that for a second, mKay? Fine. Enough.) Did you get out of the writing mojo over Christmas vacation? I totally did. Do you have any doubt that I can find an excuse for any non-writerly behaviours? Put that doubt to rest. I’m on it.
(18) Comments for this blog
Love you, Becca. Thanks for the belly laughs this morning.
Love you, Becca. Thanks for the belly laughs this morning.
Oh, the stickiness. And yes. Blog posts count as writing. As do blog post comments. See? I just wrote that.
Oh, the stickiness. And yes. Blog posts count as writing. As do blog post comments. See? I just wrote that.
This is so me right now. I hope you write about the fear thing because I haven’t written anything decent since my rejection, and I need someone to explain it to me. It’s so stupid. It’s like my mind doesn’t work right and I can’t get it back on track because every time I sit to write I already know it’s going to suck so why bother. Heavy and jolty is exactly how it feels. Why does our subconscious have to be so tied to our writing mojo?
This is so me right now. I hope you write about the fear thing because I haven’t written anything decent since my rejection, and I need someone to explain it to me. It’s so stupid. It’s like my mind doesn’t work right and I can’t get it back on track because every time I sit to write I already know it’s going to suck so why bother. Heavy and jolty is exactly how it feels. Why does our subconscious have to be so tied to our writing mojo?
I spent forty-five minutes of my day today designing a business card for myself, so that when I’ve got my book completed I’ll hand them out to the people desperate to publish it, don’t’cha know.
Of course, I was doing that instead of actually WRITING said book…
And now, I’m tempted to go do laundry rather than tackle a sticky part…
I spent forty-five minutes of my day today designing a business card for myself, so that when I’ve got my book completed I’ll hand them out to the people desperate to publish it, don’t’cha know.
Of course, I was doing that instead of actually WRITING said book…
And now, I’m tempted to go do laundry rather than tackle a sticky part…
Babies. A worthwhile excuse, to be sure. But she’s a really, really consistent one.
Babies. A worthwhile excuse, to be sure. But she’s a really, really consistent one.
OK, am I the only one who wants to know why you’ve been sad? Cuz I don’t like the idea of you being sad. Not. One. Bit.
OK, am I the only one who wants to know why you’ve been sad? Cuz I don’t like the idea of you being sad. Not. One. Bit.
Yes, life getting in the way. I know thatnpattern very well, even though I am not a writer. I think doing your work at home would be so hard, since everything else happens there too.
Yes, life getting in the way. I know thatnpattern very well, even though I am not a writer. I think doing your work at home would be so hard, since everything else happens there too.
I hate that you’ve been sad or that even sad things have been in your life lately. *giant hugs* and *more giant hugs because I love ya.*
I wish more bread baking was getting in the way of my writing. Your bread baking skills make me wish you were my mom. Or sister. Or neighbor. Just so I could steal from you under the guise of family or nearness. 😉
I hate that you’ve been sad or that even sad things have been in your life lately. *giant hugs* and *more giant hugs because I love ya.*
I wish more bread baking was getting in the way of my writing. Your bread baking skills make me wish you were my mom. Or sister. Or neighbor. Just so I could steal from you under the guise of family or nearness. 😉
um…so I need some really good whole grain/high fiber bread recipes….no more white stuff for me (darn hypoglycemia!)…so if you feel so inclined, please feel free to share…
and maybe add writing recipes down for sisters onto the list of things that get in the way of *really* writing!
😉
um…so I need some really good whole grain/high fiber bread recipes….no more white stuff for me (darn hypoglycemia!)…so if you feel so inclined, please feel free to share…
and maybe add writing recipes down for sisters onto the list of things that get in the way of *really* writing!
😉