Cold, Hard Ugly Truths About Me

What is a writer? Someone who writes.

How do you know you're a writer, or you're interacting with someone who's a writer? All she does and talks about is writing.

What can you expect when you live with a female writer? When she has a meltdown every time she has to do laundry, cook, or run errands.

The more and longer she writes, the less she's able to handle small real-life things--like getting up from her desk to put the clothes in the dryer. 

She may even forget she's already done something...

and then have a long, drawn-out conversation in the form of comments on Facebook...

I got so many random ideas for all my works in progress. At one moment, I'd think about something for The Unknown Beautiful Missing Piece, the next for a devotion. and another time, for any one of my books of journal entries. I know this is what happens when a personal issue I'd had for a few years is finally resolved.

You'd think with all the time and thought I devote to writing, I would've published something else by now.

Nope.

And I hate it. 

Plan your work.

Work your plan.

Sometimes, I need to get back to the basics of reaching my goals and for loved ones to remind me of how to handle them when my world gets chaotic. So thankful for Bobbi, one of my dear writing friends, for telling me this. A few years ago, when I first started writing, I made plans every week to write a certain number of chapters or words. However, I ended up working on something totally different. Therefore, I decided to write whatever came to mind every time I sat at my desk to write.

The following week, I wrote all the things I have yet to do with my books. Although the list is by no means exhaustive and I still have yet to have more definite plans for every day, I took that step toward being more organized. I have a huge desk calendar. for a reason: to fill those daily squares with small projects.

Later that week, I got this email.

It's an opportunity for me to write an article for the Word Weavers blog, for a book published in 2021 or has been or will be in 2022. I want to write why I wrote The Unknown Beautiful Missing Piece. However, I haven't even finished the first draft. Worse yet, I haven't even finished the book. Will writing this article motivate me to go back to working on it (even though they don't have a submission deadline)? I sure hope so. 

"You need to set a deadline. You need accountability," one of my Word Weavers buddies said.

Oh, no, I thought. Me? Needing accountability? What has happened to my self-starter self?

So, here I am, once again at my desk, putting off everyday things til later, and doing better than yesterday to plan my work and work my plan.

What has happened since I got, with apologies to the Beatles, a little help from my friends? I wrote a rough, handwritten copy of Why I Wrote The Unknown Beautiful Missing Piece and made an ARC for Light & Momentary Troubles

I'll close with this thought. I've tried for at least a month to write this post. However, this delay worked out. When I first started working on it, I hadn't received that email that has boosted my motivation. Reading it and wanting to write that article so much it hurts, has added another unexpected dimension to this post. And I thought of this when I ran this morning.