Lies Writers Tell

“Anyone who says he wants to be a writer and isn’t writing, doesn’t.”
– Ernest Hemingway

Okay, so Mr. H. knew a thing or two about writing, but sometimes when *life* gets into the act, it doesn’t seem quite that simple.

An RWA chapter I visited recently holds a monthly challenge to encourage productivity. Members put their writing goals for the coming four weeks and a dollar bill into an envelope. At the next meeting, the writers who achieved their goals have their names put in a hat, and one person’s name is drawn to win the whole pot.

At the meeting I attended, only six members had entered the challenge (though I’m told sometimes as much as $30 is on the line). The goals in question ranged from “write 8000 words” to “start writing again.” And only two people had done what they planned to do.

This led to a discussion among the women at my table. We cared enough about being writers to drag our butts to an evening meeting, yet we all had to admit we pretty much… weren’t writing.

We had a variety of excuses. We’re writers – of course we know how to come up with stories.

Member 1 – “I’m pregnant and I had morning sickness.” Only she acknowledged the morning sickness had ended after the first trimester. And she also allowed as how, once she stopped being pregnant, she’d have a new excuse – “I have a new baby.”

Me – “I just moved.” But I had to admit “just” had stretched out to over three months, I was all settled in at my new job, and everything I realistically expected to unpack was already unpacked. My excuse was sounding paper thin.

Guest No. 2 – “My job is sucking the soul out of me.” Okay, at one time or another, most of us have “been there, done that, got the T-shirt.” But when the day job is unsatisfying, isn’t that when we most need the creative outlet writing provides?

All right, maybe it really *is* as simple as Ernie boy said. There's no perfect time to write. Life is always happening and will always be happening. If we want to, we’ll always be able to find an excuse not to write. If, on the other hand, we want to be writers, then we have to write. Butt in chair, hands on keyboard. End of story. Or rather, beginning of story… lots of wonderful stories.

So, what are your excuses for not writing, and how do you talk yourself out of them?

Thieving the Time

So, there's my stern writerly look which was supposed to enjoin the huddled and hungry masses to leave me alone while I was tapping away with a wild and unfettered abandon on my NaNo project, Warlock of the Month.

I think I should have gone with the scowl that I normally reserve for inmates who have come down with a contagious case of stupid. Of course, I couldn't post that one. We'd like to keep our blog followers and we prefer them upright instead of dead. Yes, looks can kill. If you do it right.

Short of shooting our loved ones, what is it that you do to have writing time? It's hard enough for us to sit down to the computer and write to start with. What's the most creative strategy that you've used to secure some quiet time to yourself?

Mine isn't that creative. I've roared like Tiamat and I think I might have actually sprouted six other heads. The husband tiptoes around with a lighter tread when I'm writing than when I'm parting the red sea on the cotton pony. He doesn't trust any food that I've cooked if I had to stop writing to prepare it (Which is just silly.)He'll sniff it carefully like a wild dog and snatch it before I can take it back. He even manages not to glue his hands to my blouse gnomes when I'm writing. He'll sneak up behind me, even though he knows I hate that, and grab on. (Working in corrections, you learn to never let anyone hang out behind you. Not just for the "rear" jokes either.) Unless I've got Word open and then he tiptoes away as quietly as a large, viking looking hottie can.

Spill! The Wylde Diva wants to know.