Today I need to write.
I need to write at least 500 words on my current novel if I want to keep my momentum going.
I need to write about writing for this blog and for my newsletters.
I need to write the lesson plans for the next course I want to offer.
So, I set aside three hours today specifically to work on all this writing, one hour for each project. I’m forty-five minutes in, and here are the absolutely, earth-shattering tasks I’ve done instead:
· Unloaded the dishwasher
· Got sucked into a TikTok rabbit hole while unloading the dishwasher that extended past unloading said dishwasher
· Gone outside to figure out where my garbage bin blew away to (It was really windy last night.) Spoiler: It was in front of the neighbor’s house.
· Texted people
· Checked email. Twice.
· Fed the dog. (To be fair, she eats at the beginning of my writing time every day. I need to adjust that.)
· Made hot chocolate
· Wrote this post instead of the one I should be writing.
· Opened a package that was delivered
The point (assuming this post has one) is that some days you are enthusiastic about your writing. You cannot wait to dive in and put your characters through the wringer.
And then other days are like today when literally anything and everything is more appealing than writing a children’s book.
Neither kind of day is better than the other (although admittedly, one is singularly more productive). They just are.
If not writing on your children’s book stresses you out or if you have a deadline stalking you, then power through. Even if it’s a struggle some words will flow—if only in fits and spurts. And remember, it’s always easier to edit bad writing than it is to edit a blank page.
But if there isn’t anything pressing, and if this isn’t happening every single day, then cut yourself some slack. Sometimes we have to clear out the clutter in our homes, our lives, and our minds in order to write.
So, make yourself that cup of hot chocolate or coffee or margarita and try to write. But don’t beat yourself up if today is not one of those days.
It just means tomorrow might be.
Pens up!
