Being a Writer is a 24 Hour Thing

I’ve been busy the last few weeks and have not had much time to write.  Ideally, I like to write five days a week.  Whenever I get busy and can’t write as much as I would like, a voice in my head starts berating me.  It says I am not committed enough.  It says if I was serious about my writing I would find the time to write no matter what.  It reminds me for every writing session I miss, I put off finishing my novel by one more day. 

The funny thing is when I am writing every day this same voice tells me that my writing is crap and I am wasting my time.            



This voice belongs to my inner critic and is quite insane. 

I know this, though it took me years to realize it.  Even now I can still be temporarily fooled and get tangled up in its crazy rantings.   It can make me feel guilty about not writing, or bad about what I am writing.

For the last few weeks whenever this voice began berating me I practiced being kind to myself.  I know that in a perfect world I would write every day because I love to write.  Spilling ink on the page is my passion.  I feel fortunate to have something that I love to do.  So many people live lukewarm lives, not yet having discovered their passion.

I’ve also been reminding myself that even when I am not writing, I am still a writer.  Being a writer is more than just putting words on the page.  It is a way of existing in the world.  Being a writer means staying awake.  It means staying close to my life so even if I don’t have time to capture my thoughts and experiences with my pen, part of me is still paying attention to what it feels like to sit anxiously in a waiting room, or to carry heavy boxes, or stand in endless lineups.   

I remind myself that I am not just a writer when I am at my desk, but that being a writer is a twenty-four hour a day thing.