And You Call Yourself A Writer

If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, then you’ve learned a few things about me.

1. I love shoes;

2. I think I’m funny and witty…sometimes, I am…not always;

3. I don’t blog nearly enough or with any kind of consistency;

4. I am a person of deep faith;

5. I try my best at being healthy and staying in shape;

6. I love my family;

7. I consider myself a writer.

It is this last one that I want to focus on right now. Because, as a writer, there is one basic thing I need to do…WRITE. And I find myself going long periods of time without doing any writing at all.

Why is that? How is it that something as essential to my character as writing, something I have been doing my entire life, that gives me purpose and brings me great joy, can be placed on the back burner for months at a time?

Life is hectic, things get in the way, the Muse goes into hiding, I get writer’s block. Excuses.

Truth is, they are all valid excuses, but they don’t change the basic truth, and that is, I am a writer, and therefore, I need to make time to write.

So, when the other day on Twitter my friend @districtbelle sent out a Tweet about the “Write Fifteen Minutes A Day” Challenge (#WFMAD), I knew I’d have to join her.

The challenge is the brain child of Laurie Halse Anderson, and you can learn more about it at her blog Mad Woman In The Forest, and also here at Sterling Editing.

Laurie is posting daily writing prompts in August and inspirational and motivational posts to help get writers…well…writing.

I may or may not use some of her prompts throughout the month. What I WILL do is write for at least 15 minutes a day, every day, starting today.

For the most part, I plan to use that time to work on my “Work In Progress” NaNoWriMo novel. After all, I am THISCLOSE to the end of my first draft, and I would really like to be able to say I completed it before the next NaNoWriMo in November.

But on days where the inspiration isn’t there to work on that particular story, maybe I will use her prompts. Or maybe I will write a blog post. And maybe I will use her prompts to actually come up with blog posts, because lately? Even that has been blocked for me.

Either way, I’m excited about joining this challenge, and already, I’ve written my first non-popinjay blog post in weeks…I’d say that’s a good start.

What about you? Will you join me?