Make Myself!

I have honestly NOT intended to ignore this blog as much as I have. It's the fact that summer has been here and I've not had much alone time to think and reflect except when I was at Retreat the first 2 days, and in the evenings when I'm trying to make myself write.

"Make myself?"

Yes, that's right. I'm pushing myself to write. You'd think that I'd be more than happy to do it. And I am, but some times I am tired or I'm not in the mood and I'm trying very hard to get in the habit of writing. In fact, right this very minute I should be writing on my story, especially so since I've come up with a few more ideas to write on again, but I am posting to my blog instead! Those wonderful ideas keep on rolling in when I feel like I've hit a wall and I'm SO grateful that my brain continues to figure stuff out even when I'm not devoted to the written task.

I kinda attribute the concept that its hard to do one thing continuously when you aren't used to doing it often. Just like when you start to exercise you don't go run a marathon to begin with, you have to train yourself a head of time for months. Yeah, I'm in my training stage. I'm writing more than I have in years and I'm happy about that. But I'm not at a point where I'm going to say I can sit and write 1000 words a week or something like that. Do real accomplished writers write that much? Maybe somewhere in my brain I'm completely jaded as to what accomplished writers do? So set me straight.

Honestly, I can't make that type of commitment today or tomorrow or next week. But I know that eventually I will, especially if I keep "training." Just not until all my children are in school full time. Right now I have little ones at home and I absolutely have to supervise them or things will fall apart in so many ways it's not funny. Night writing is my only option right now and whatever else I can squeeze in during the day.

There are a few things that have helped me to get more writing time in and I'm slowly getting better at it. 1. Learning to write while in the midst of distraction. Yes, screaming and running children under foot counts as EXTREME distraction. Need I say more? 2. Eliminating activities (distractions) you are willing to sacrifice for the greater benefit of writing. I am a freakoid television watcher, especially in the evenings. So of course, I am trying to eliminate watching so much tv, so I can devote more time to writing. Hulu has helped... maybe just a little.

How am I doing on this path? Well, my goal to begin with was to write at least 2 pages a month. Pretty low goal, I know, but I figured it was lofty enough to motivate me without making me feel so terrible if I couldn't reach that goal. And the results are that I've been writing at least 10 pages a month instead. So I feel really accomplished. Setting goals is fun! YAY!

It's probably time to up the ante. And I think I will. Just not yet. I like the fact that I have my 2 page goal and I'm hugely jumping further in my target. Is it selfish of me to want to see myself doing so much more and reveling in it? Okay, maybe I'm not reveling in it as much as I could, but secretly in my heart, I feel like I'm getting somewhere and that is a really great feeling.

Every journey begins with the first step. So I am making my journey worthwhile by the steps I'm taking.