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To Write or Not To Write: Making Decisions

Buried in the Slushpile, writing

To Write or Not to Write ImageThis morning was the perfect morning. I woke up and my husband and son were out of town. I didn’t have a bunch of pressing emails, and I’m fairly caught up on both my CBAY work and the online marketing class I’m taking.

For once, I had free time. FREE TIME!!! The opportunities felt boundless. Should I try to get a little extra sleep? Catch up on the shows I watch? (I’m behind on Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow, because, yes, I am a sucker for the Arrow-verse. And, no, don’t tell me what happened.) Or should I try to work on my poor Untitled Super Hero Novel that I’ve been pecking at for months?

Today I chose writing.

I tell you this not to be all self-congratulatory or to piously tell the world that I picked my art over the mundane pleasures of television. I tell you this because today I made a choice, and today you will too.

There have been lots of times when I have chosen differently, especially in the evenings. My brains is often fried by the time any free time rolls around that I can barely connect enough words to make a sentence let alone craft scenes and dialog. So often have I chosen not to write that there are times that I have had to go back and look up minor characters’ names because I’ve forgotten them. Think of that! Forgotten character names! IN MY OWN STORY.

And you know what? I don’t feel the least bit bad for all those times I chose not to write.

True, there are consequences to not writing. My Untitled Super Hero Novel is not finished. However, I accept that consequence and move on.

The point of all this is that we all make choices, and the key is to making ones we can live with. I can live with the fact that I don’t have the energy or brain space to write everyday. I can live with taking a year to finish a novel I could probably have written in two months. Figure out what you can live with and then when you are faced with a choice of writing or doing literally anything else, you too can make a choice you can live with.

It’s true that you can always find time for writing. It’s just also true that you may not always want to find time. I found my time to write today. Find yours when it works for you.

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