I’ve been trying to finish the next draft of a play and it’s been problematic. Not because it is so difficult that I can’t do it or even that I don’t want to finish it – it’s because I seem to think I have all the time in the world.
I’ve always understood that my time on the planet is limited but bizarrely it hasn’t stopped me putting off my writing by making other things a priority. Until recently that is – when that false sense of eternity got well and truly smashed.
I received upsetting news about a friend, quickly followed by an email about the death of a work colleague and then even more crappy news about another friend. (Seriously, 2016 come on!)
This sad cluster of news was a timely reminder that we don’t live forever. Our bodies and minds have a habit of breaking. I knew that and yet somehow I kinda forget.
This is what’s so wrong with “one-day” thinking. There’s no guarantee that “one day“ will actually come.
I think there’s a tyranny to “one-day” thinking – especially for writers and aspiring writers. It’s an insidious and acceptable form of procrastination disguised as “doing what’s right” or “doing what’s more important” or “doing what we should.”
With “one day” thinking you can keep yourself wrapped up in a comfortable delusion for years – why make your writing project a big priority when there are so many other priorities – AND when you know you’ll get round to it eventually?
Thing is, there are always going to be worthy tasks and distractions jostling for your attention!
Writing often doesn’t fill the bank account, it’s time- consuming, it’s often not tangible until completed and to the casual observer it can look a lot like mucking around. But so what?
If this is what you want to do then it is important – to you.
So like me, I want you to start thinking about what it is you really want to achieve next year?
How do you want to spend your writing time? What’s your heart’s desire? What is your writing dream for 2017?
These are the questions currently rolling around in my head. I don’t have all my answers just yet but I do know I’ll be writing and that I’m not going to wait until the time is perfect to do so.
If you’re itching to start now – grab my awesome and FREE Creative Action Plan HERE.
Tuck yourself away somewhere for 15 minutes and do some soul-searching about what you really want the rest of your writing year to look like.