Or how to prioritize your writing when life is crazy as all get-out
Little life update: I moved!
This summer my family and I left the state we’d called home for the last decade in favor of new jobs and new adventures. Let me preface this by saying—I hate moving. I hate packing boxes. I hate long road trips. I hate trying to figure out what cabinet I should place my mugs and plates and bowls in, and inevitably changing my mind four more times before resigning that my kitchen’s feng shui will have to be good enough.
I also really hate how time consuming moving is.
There were a solid couple months where I didn’t touch a pen, paper, or keyboard. I simply did not have the time or headspace to write. That wasn’t to say I didn’t have the desire to write; it was still there, though dormant. The time constraints of moving relegated my books to the far corners of my mind.
I was lucky enough to still be having some forward momentum during these months. My fabulous agent has been hard at work, even in the publishing industry’s summer slowdown. Magazines accepted pieces I’d submitted pre-move. But I wasn’t creating anything new.
I missed it, of course, but this little hiatus turned out to be exactly what I needed. After months of writer’s block and wallowing over half-baked story ideas, a new and shiny book emerged. I unpacked my office and notebooks and started plotting immediately.
All that to say, I have a new book idea! And it is every bit as horrifying as my others. I can’t wait to share it with y’all one day.
And that brings me to the point of this post: what do you want? Because as a writer, even if you aren’t writing, you will still find a way to create stories. In fallow and fertile seasons, through creative drought or desolation, your ideas will survive.
But you have to want it. You have to be willing to work, yes, but sometimes you also have to be willing to wait and rest. Let the story come to you.
If you want it bad enough, the right words will find you. And when they do, it’s up to you what you do with them.
I hope you all are having fabulous summers! In the meantime, happy writing!
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