IWSG-- Treat it Like A Job

It's the first week of the month again so it's time for the Insecure Writer's Support Group!  It's a wonderful group where writers get together and talk about their fears, insecurities, and successes.  It was the brain child of Alex J Cavanaugh, created to give us a place of encouragement and support on this long and sometimes lonely journey of writing.  It has been truly inspiring to be a member.  Check us out and join here.  

The question of the month is: How do you find the time to write in your busy day?

Squeezing time out of my day to write has always been my biggest struggle.  Writing feels like a guilty pleasure sometimes when there is always something else that needs to be done.  From going to work, to housework, to simply having time to read and hang out with the kids and my husband days seem to slip away without much being written. Then on the days that I do take the time to sit and write, I often spend the time blogging or writing a quasi-journal of thoughts from the day instead of working on crafting stories or editing what I've already done.  

Maybe I'm hiding behind the idea that I'm still writing without having to actually dig into the hard and often frustrating work of perfecting my ideas and creations.  It's kind of a safety net I guess.

A safety net that I'm in the process of cutting away.  With both my daughters, Jess and Alyss, going to college this year and my son in middle school, I have no more excuses.  I now have a plethora of time during the day to work on writing.

Afraid that I might fall into the trap of spending lazy mornings drinking coffee on the deck and then getting stuck doing dishes and other housework, I decided to get out of the house as everyone else is leaving and head to the local libraries and coffee shops to spend the mornings writing.  I'm finally treating my writing like a job, a job that I love.     

I've always loved writing, constantly filling scraps of paper with bits of poetry I've scribbled down or amazing thoughts that have popped into my head that I'll use someday.  

Today is that someday!  As proof, I'm actually writing this post 6 days in advance!  I've never done that before!! :)

Kathy