There were thirty days in April and I wrote and published something on this blog for twenty-six of them. It is amazing what a writer or any human being can do when they challenge themselves and make a commitment. But then again, that is the story that we tell ourselves. We tell ourselves what we can and can not do. We place limits on ourselves and those we love.
If I give my students an open ended writing assignment, they automatically give themselves rules and limits. The biggest one these days is that this or that is too much. It is the limit that I hate the most. If it gets the job done and puts you were you need to go then why is it too much? Why is it bad to work for something? The answer for many of the students is easy to see in their daily lives. They see people working and working and never getting a head, so why work?
That is a dangerous story, but a real one.
The big bad story I have told myself I don’t have enough time to write. This month, I took that story apart.
I didn’t make my goal of writing everyday, but most days I did write and it is that habit that I have to continue if I want to be a successful writer. No if ands or buts about it, to be a writer you have to write. To be a successful one you have to continue to write, even when I’m busy or sick. (Yesterday, I slept most of the day and wrote for a couple of hours in the office before going back to bed.)
I have been afraid to let go of some aspects of my life. The security that I have built for myself in my tiny house. In the three jobs that I hold down and the family and loved ones who support me. In the piles of books that surround me in nearly every room of my house. In short, I have been afraid of change.
Change is always coming for us. Always, so it is time to stop huddling under the covers and get going.
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