Revenge of the WIP

Writers write. I’ve been told this over and over again since starting the adventure of writing through the various writing books and friends, but I always find excuses to not write. The kids are screaming, the neighbor’s dog is yapping, I can’t concentrate, I don’t have the time because I have to clean the house or change the diapers, and yada yada…

I think it’s something all beginning writer’s go through, but it’s not time or quiet that keeps us from doing what we should, it’s fear. We are afraid that we aren’t good enough, that our stories will fail, and that we will only walk away from our first draft feeling that if we were to share it with the world we would be ridiculed.


Newbie writers are perfect procrastinators. We blog hop, facebook, and tweet all the while claiming our procrastination to be beneficial to our writing life. In truth, we are hiding from our WIP, hoping it will understand when we finally come slinking back to jot down a couple of paragraphs.


This morning my modem died. One minute it was working fine, I was wasting my time on the internet, and then suddenly the net was gone. After calling our internet provider and finding out that it will be Monday before a technician can repair our modem, I was bummed. My first instinct was to plug in my smart phone and continue on with my dilly dallying, but I resisted the urge and instead pulled out my WIP, a few books, and my Kindle (Ol’ Kindie likes to watch.) I wrote. It wasn’t great or stuff of legend, but it was words to page. It was progress, something I haven’t had for months now.


So I decided it was time to make time to write. Only allowing myself a certain amount of time for net time, and remaining unplugged (a term I will borrow from Tina over at TPR) for the remainder of the day. As for the kids, cleaning and yappy dog? I will have to learn to work around the kids, get the cleaning done early in the morning, and feed the yapper a benedryll hot dog (j/k I would never…)


I’ve yet to get a good routine, but I’m hoping to manage one in at least a week. If I want to be a writer, I’m going to have to get serious, pick up my pen (or lappy top, or smart phone) and write.


For those wondering how I managed to write up this blog with no internets, I have an app on my phone for blogging…


Well, back to my WIP. It’s forgiven me for my absence and is treating me very nicely today.


Happy writing!


Ta!


A.McBay