Writers--You Are The Master of Your Time

I was trying to decide what to write in today's post when an ambulance arrived next door to us. They came to transport the man who lives there to a hospital. He has a condition that only gets worse and harder for his wife to care for him. Soon, he will need to go to Healthcare. My heart ached for both of them and it made me consider how quickly our lives can change and how all the things we had planned to do are suddenly no longer a possibility.

That is also the case in our writing life. We plan to do this project or that one but time slips through our fingers on a daily basis. We want to write our family stories so they will be preserved for our children and future generations but the desire never seems to come to fruition. There just never seems to be enough time.

We see a Call for Submissions and think of a story in our files that we could revise and polish and send in. Then Life steps in and the momentary thought slip-slides away like melting snow.

How many times have you read about a Writing Contest that sounded like something you could submit to? How many times did you only think about it? There just isn't enough time! you said.

If you're a professional writer, you must make a certain amount of time for your writing but those of us who write part-time aren't restricted. We use what extra time we have for our writing. Sometimes, even that bit evaporates before we can reach out and grab it.

Watching our friend deteriorate with the disease he has makes me aware that life can change so quickly and all those things we'd planned to do will never be achieved. It's not only age that threatens but illness and accidents, job loss, financial disasters and problems within our extended families.

This post appears to be a real downer, all negatives. If you read my blog regularly, you'll know that I am a person who tries to accentuate the positive whenever the opportunity arises. The positive I leave with you today is that you are the master of your own time. Consider the moments of your day that you do inane things that qualify as wasted time. You're not alone. We all do it. You can create time to write by rearranging your day. Get up earlier, go to bed an hour later, give up something social. There are ways to gift yourself with blocks of time to write.

Stop putting all those writing things you planned to do aside. Life is shorter than we think. Grab hold of it now and make the most of it. Write that poem that's been swirling in your mind. Get to work on those family stories. Continue to work on your memoir or short story or the book you're writing--or hope to write someday. Don't wait until you say I wish I had...