On a Roll (Just not Unpacking)

See how disciplined I was NOT to go out and enjoy this day but to focus on my goal to write?

Today was an amazing day for my writing. I worked on my book for five hours. That’s right. FIVE. There was a beautiful autumn view outside my window of blue sky and a colorful tree. I had tea and inspiration and no place I had to be. Plus having the kids at school really helps with this kind of thing.

At She Speaks this summer I heard encouragement to make an appointment each week to work on your writing if you are serious about writing. Don’t let things replace it on your calendar. Keep it like a long-fought-for doctor’s appointment. So that was the plan today—write as long as words were flowing!

I worked on fleshing out the skeleton of my book. It wasn’t all brilliant but it was a starting place. I had lots to input and later I will edit and craft and polish. I will create sticky statements that catch the reader’s attention. At least that’s the plan.

I had more boxes to tackle and should have gone to the grocery store. But once I realized I had spaghetti supplies and enough milk to get us through breakfast tomorrow, I decided to make proper time for writing instead. Boxes could wait another day. After all, isn’t my theme this month about finding balance amongst the boxes?

You don’t move into a house overnight unless you have a paid staff of decorators, movers, and cleaners. It is a process of unpacking and finding new homes for your things. Of weeding out the things that don’t work or really shouldn’t be there anymore. “Let it go, let it go…” comes to mind. Finding balance amongst the boxes is about making time for the other things I need to accomplish.

I cannot spend all my time moving in or the laundry would never get done, the groceries bought, the homework helped with, or any of all the other things I do as a mom and keeper of our home. Other things need my attention and time too.

So today I worked on writing a lot and sewing for my upcoming craft fair a little. I prayed for a friend having surgery to remove a tumor. I helped a child in distress communicate his concerns to a teacher. I ran kids to youth group and recorded my radio shows. Oh, and managed to bang out a blog post before tucking the kids in bed.

I think that was plenty for a beautiful autumn day.