Day 16: Someday

I’m going to tell you something that you already know…someday isn’t guaranteed.  We, as writers, keep that day in our head as our finish line when we’re working on our passion piece of writing.  You can’t do that.  I’m about to sound like an inspirational poster here but all you actually have is right now.  I’ll be the 1st to stand up and say, “I am a procrastinator.”  Actually, the queen of procrastinators…bow down before me my loyal subjects!  I’ll be really honest…the second that I wrote the previous sentence, my ADHD mind starting wondering why the lamp beside my writing surface wasn’t working.  Sounds simple enough to check, fix and then get back to my blog.  Well, no it wasn’t simple.  My new little writing haven, as I call it, was formerly my craft room so I have jewelry making supplies and tools, card making supplies, tools, and equipment, quilling supplies, candle making supplies, bath bomb and salts making supplies, etc…, and to make room for my computer and writing stuff, I had to clear some space.  So I put a lot of it into 2 storage ottomans, 1 big and 1 small, and the rest went into storage containers, some of which are under the table that I have deemed my writing space.  And the outlet was behind all of that.  But, being ADHD and a mega-procrastinator, I didn’t stay completely on task.  I found some notebooks that I had to look thru, some cords leading to who knows what and other things that seemed extremely important to look at in that moment.  Then, I had to put it all back…except the notebooks because they could be interesting and a nice diversion for a procrastinator.  But now I’m back.  My point, before I went off on my mission, is that you can’t keep telling yourself that 1 day, someday you’ll finish your book or other writing projects.  You, we, have to do it now.  I started my journey to publication 10 years ago and I’m not published yet.  Yes, I had some good reasons mixed in with the bullshit reasons, but that’s honestly no excuse.  So even if you add a sentence at a time, keep writing, no matter what.  Use your cell phone or voice recorder to record ideas, dialogue, etc…, on your commute or in between classes or meetings.  Always carry a notebook of some sort so that you can jot down your thoughts at lunch or at your desk.  And keep that notebook beside your bed at night along with a pen in case you awaken from a dream that has given you some inspiration.  Basically, just try really really hard to make some progress each day.  You might be amazed at how much you can actually write using stray moments throughout the day.  You’ll never reach that someday otherwise. 

“Serious writers write, inspired or not.  Over time they discover that routine is a better friend than inspiration.” ~ Ralph Keyes

“The hard part about writing a novel is finishing it.” ~ Ernest Hemingway   

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