Writing Time

You can’t say, I won’t write today because that excuse will extend into several days, then several months, then… you are not a writer any more, just someone who dreams about being a writer.
—Dorothy C. Fontana

I came across this quote recently and, for me, it really hit home. I have spent a lifetime of dreaming about being a writer. I have always allowed other things to get in the way and every day, I feel the pull of distractions as I sit at my computer trying to write. Its email, then social media, even WordPress have been amongst the things which draw me away from writing. More recently I have really annoyed myself by just “trying out” Farm Heroes and Candy Crush. These games are so frustrating but addictive at the same time.

Time is so precious and we treat it as its a given, with little regard for when that time ends. I try to find the room to write each day, to add a little space where I can sit down and produce something, anything. I don’t always show what’s written, in fact, most of it will never see the light of day. The more I write the less other things become momentarily important and the writing becomes more of a habit. With NaNoWriMo fast approaching I’ll need to be in that frame of mind that pushes away thoughts of procrastination but just lets me get on with the process of writing.

As David Hewson, the author of over twenty books, writes in his blog post

Here’s the hard truth. No one ever finds the time for writing. We make it.

And if you don’t… you’ll never finish that book.

So we have to make the time to write, it doesn’t just present itself. Me, I’ll be staying off Farm Heroes and all those other distractions.

If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.
—Isaac Asimov