Today I’m riffing on Heather Weidner’s
recent blog, Getting Your Writing back on Track. In 2020, the pandemic brought
me a massive surprise. After what felt like a zillion years of working sixty-to-eighty-hour
weeks for a law firm in Miami, Florida, and carving out time to write, I found
myself laid off and ultimately, unemployed.Part-time writer dreaming of full-time
The writer in me shouted “Yea!” I had visions of cranking out books by the score – well, that’s a slight exaggeration, but you get my drift. For the first time in forty years, my time was my own. Real time. Not time carved out from vacation, or turn the phone off and huddle in for a long weekend time. This was nobody is watching and you have only yourself to report to time. Bliss, luxury, nirvana. Reality check!
Full-time writer office ready to rock |
I was far more protective of my time
when someone else was paying me for my hours. Come to think of it, so was my
husband. Well, there was that one time he interrupted a Zoom hearing because he
couldn’t find his cell phone, but hey, that happens. And he learned to knock.
Now he breezes in and out of my office on a regular basis. And I let him. So,
where’s the problem? It looks at me from the mirror every morning. The
situation hasn’t changed. I’ve changed. I allow myself to be distracted and
interrupted, and seriously, oftentimes I’m my own worst enemy. While I was
writing this blog, I took time off to do dinner prep. Take gun, roll cylinder,
shoot self in foot.
Piper wondering when the magic begins |
I’m taking several of Heather’s
suggestions and rededicating myself to the writing life. How about you?