What the hell? It’s May already??
Ack! 2009 is nearly half over and what have I got to show for myself this year? hmmm… not a lot, unfortunately.
Remember how I posted my grand plans – I was being all organised and stuff. Oh my, that so just did not happen. I can’t blame anything bar my own inconsistency. Seems this year I have become an incompetent hot mess. I’m not entirely sure why, but a certain inability to get a good nights sleep rates right up there as guess #1.
So where am I going with this post? Well, I’ve been beating myself up a hell of a lot about my production, which makes me feel like writing less and less, and I realised something a couple of days back: It’s okay just to be a reader for a while.
Reading is how I got into this game, and reading is no doubt how I’ll get out of it at some stage, so why am I beating myself up about being a reader for a while, instead of a writer? Being a good writer is hard, you pour much of your heart and soul into getting stories just right. It can take a lot out of you. So why not jump back onto the other side of the fence for a while? Be a reader and just enjoy the wonderful stories other people have written.
After all, without readers there would be no need for books!
The more we beat ourselves up for not writing, I think the worse it is
You are right, just give yourself time, read a bit, relax, recharge. Something will zing you just right and get you going again.
Anne,
Excellent point about readers AND giving yourself permission to read.
I often find the more I read, the more I want to write. It’s a very beneficial symbiotic relationship.
Like you, I had this incredible idea of getting it together and writing three books this year.
Unfortunately life intruded with some big things and then the everyday things that always seem to lurk in the shadows and corners. I’ve never noticed how time can just seem to seep away from you by doing the most innocuous things.
My best use of time has been keeping a planner and no goal. Yep, no goal. I simply write total and draw a line. However many words or pages I wrote that day gets noted. I also get a puffy sticker At the end of the week, I add up all the words/pages and write them down on both the last day of the week and the first of the next for inspiration. So far, that’s let me write a heck of a lot in between getting laid off, major surgery and a death.
But it’s always what works best for yourself that will get you back in the game when you’re ready.
Good luck!