Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Busy, busy, busy

This writer's life has been busy and it's not even the holidays yet. The question becomes how do you find the time to keep writing even when you are so busy your to-do lists have to-do lists?
The answer is simple. One word at a time. One sentence at a time. A bad first draft is better than the most magnificent story never written. There are people who will argue that you are wasting time and energy writing a bad first draft. I say balderdash! Writing is a craft that must be practiced every day. That does not mean you "must" write twenty pages a day to be a writer. Or even a single page a day. What it means is that you sit down, open a file and write a few words. If you are too busy to warm up the computer- keep a notebook with you and write a sentence before bed, or in the car line waiting to pick your kids up from school, or while waiting in line at the grocery store. If you have a smart phone write a sentence or two instead of that tweet telling everyone what you had for lunch.
If you are still having trouble finding the time or the energy to write-and you are not on deadline- then perhaps giving yourself permission to take a break and wait is a good idea. Even the best writers need vacations...or a good night's sleep.
Take care of yourselves my friends and most importantly take a moment to breathe in and out. Nothing is so important that you should ruin your health over it. Cheers~

2 comments:

Pamala Knight said...

There you are, always handy with a good word, a kind thought and some prudent and useful advice. Cheers to you, dear Nancy. Thanks for the excellent post and I hope to see you sometime soon.

*hugs*

Nancy J. Parra said...

Hi Pamala,

How are you? I miss seeing you. How is your writing going? Cheers~