Finding Time

One of the things I struggle with the most in my life - in EVERY aspect of my life - is consistency. I don't know why I struggle with it so much, I just do.

I have great intentions. I start fantastic projects. I have really good ideas.

I have no stick-to-it-ness, though. Or at least, very little of it.

I'm trying to change this defective part of my personality, though. Perhaps it's just part of the curse of I-can-do-that-itus (a condition I have self-assessed myself with), that I think I can do anything and everything, and so I try to do it all and get nothing done instead. Much like that run-on sentence, I have the tendency to go everywhere and get very little accomplished.

So, I'm trying to fix this.

I really, really, REALLY want to be a full-time writer. I love teaching, but I would jump at the chance to be a full-time writer and pen book after book after book. How awesome would that be? I know that in order to get started I have to, well, get started. I have some things written, but I really need to get as much out there as I can in order to have any hope of being successful. I'd like to be published by a publishing house, but I'd also like to have a successful e-publishing business as well. In order for either to happen, I have to get more stuff finished.

I have no lack of ideas. I'm brimming with ideas. I'm idea girl! But, I lack consistency in finding time to write every single day so I can get my ideas into real-live-honest-to-goodness books.

I need to make writing a priority. It needs to be more than a hobby in my mind if it's ever going to become my full-time occupation. Even if I don't have the talent to be an author, I need to at least have the tenacity to do so. The talent can be revised into my books, if needed. :)

We all get 24 hours a day. Stephen King has only 24 hours. Janet Evanovich has only 24 hours. Suzanne Collins has only 24 hours a day. I have been blessed with 24 hours as well. I need to make the most of them.

I already have tried to take out a lot of time sucks out of my day. I don't watch television. We don't have cable, which helps. I have kids, so a lot of my time after work involves getting them home, making dinner, and keeping them from killing each other until bed time. If you're like me, and working a full-time job, I know how difficult it can be to find the time to write.

But, if you're like me, and you want to someday have a writing career, then you and I both will need to find the time to get our writing done. I know I need to get rid of some more time sucks. Facebook needs to be minimized in my life. I can lose 30 minutes to an hour there, easily. I need to just do that when I can't write, like when dinner's cooking and I'm trying to shoo my kids out of the kitchen. Then, when I do find time to write later, I need to keep myself from ever logging on to Facebook and just get to writing.

So, that's my commitment. When it comes to writing time, which for me, is when the kids are finally tucked away in bed, then it's JUST writing time. Nothing else. No YouTube. No Facebook. No Twitter. Nothing. Just write.

Join me, will you?