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Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Does this sound like you?

If I could just stay home from work today and write...
I am in the middle of a chapter and just need a couple more hours but I have to go do _____...
I want to write but need a good amount of time at once just to get it done...
I'd rather be writing...

I think all writers have those moments, or days, or months when we wonder why we can't just follow our passion and write full-time, tell everyone and everything just to go stick it, and horde yourself up with your computer and the blissful sound of tapping keys.  I know I've had those moments, a lot! Especially since I've decided to pursue my passion project head on.  It's frustrating not to do what everything inside you says you need to do, right then, all the time. Now.

Then I remembered one of Marie Foleo's weekly videos I had seen last year, and it helped bring everything into perspective (actually, a lot of her videos do).  It had to do with all the jobs, little and big, that we've every had that got us to this point, and the jobs we do now in order to pay bills and feed children and keep a roof over our heads...which all allows us to pursue our dreams.  They are important because they "fund the passion project."   They aren't a deterrent to our dreams, but in fact, help us be able to do them because we are not worrying about where the next paycheck is coming from or if our children have warm clothes for winter.  Sure, maybe we only get a half-hour a day to write, or do whatever your passion is, but there are some who are probably not even getting that little amount of time.  It is important to be thankful for what we do have.

So, I stopped wishing away the day job and the night job and everything else that takes me away from what I want to do, and instead, be thankful for them, and focusing the time I do have not on worrying how much will get done, but just getting it done.  And because writing is more fun to me than, say, any form of exercise  LOL, I made this sign for my desk with just a little added incentive...



...meaning to take at least ten minutes out to do some form of exercise with the reward of being able to write. This reminds me that what I do when I am not writing is just as important as what I hope to accomplish with my writing, keeps me focused on the important things.  That everything is connected, everything can work together if we stop fighting ourselves...and simply be grateful for what we have.

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