Tara here. Sitting in the dark, after getting my kids to sleep. My glowing laptop is the only light on my face. As it happens, my desk tonight is a bedspread.
Which is heating up my computer mightily quickly. Sorry, trusty computer. (I keep moving my laptop around, to a different, "cooler" place on this bedspread.) I wonder where you are right now, dear writer, as you are reading this. Is it morning for you? Are you carving out 20 minutes for your writing, before attending a meeting / after picking up groceries / before picking up the kids / after cleaning up the kitchen?
This blog post is directly for you.
To tell you to keep going - to let you know that I daily tell myself the same thing - to let you know we're in the same boat - to make you laugh, minimize the heavy, fill you with gusto, and get you back to your writing.
I am hiding away right now on this guest bed at 1030pm, wiped from visiting with family, crouched in the dark next to my sleeping daughter on that other guest bed 3 feet away, finally alone with my own thoughts.
This picture I'm painting for you is an invitation to you, to paint yours for me. Or for anyone you want. And to let you know that your writing-time can literally be in the dark at 1030pm, just like mine is. You can still get your novel done, even if you've been with your in-laws all day, and are suddenly filled with doubt again. Or spent the day crying. Or changed your idea. You can still finish your screenplay, even if you have no desk, and must type (or write by hand) on a bedspread. You will still complete your book of essays or poetry, even if you write just 5 or 10 minutes a day.
Doooooo iiiiiiiitttttt. Your ideas for your writing aren't leaving you alone, because you're supposed to be writing them. Same here. I must maaaake myself listen to this tap-tapping on my shoulder, and SIT HERE AND WRITE, for at least 5-10-15 minutes every night - sometimes it turns into an hour - before I go to sleep. The world needs your writing.
It really does.
Honor that writing inside of you.
Write daily. Morning, noon or night.
Dooooo iiiiittt.
I am right there with you.
Keeeep gooooiinnnngg.
T.S.