By Marcia Mickelson
At the LDStorymakers Conference last month, I attended a work shop taught by Rachel Ann Nunes called Writing in Spite of a Busy Life. She emphasized that we should say to ourselves, "I am a Writer."
One statement struck me the most. She said we're all busy, but if we want to write then something must go. She told us about the time she was busy with writing, so she served corn dogs for dinner. Her husband gave her a look, but didn't say anything. I can really relate to that. I have long decided that if I want to write, something must go. For me the thing that went was cooking. Luckily, I've always hated cooking anyway. So, I make quick, easy dinners with four ingredients or less. Some of my best pals are Betty Crocker and Uncle Ben. I've never made biscuits from scratch and refuse to use yeast. There is nothing wrong with buying bread. I love homemade chocolate chip cookies, but Pillsbury sells a big tub of cookie dough (darn good cookie dough) for less than $6. Homemade cookies without all the work within 10 minutes--why would anyone ever make them from scratch? To me, making brownies from scratch is making them from a mix. That's 'from scratch' to me, as opposed to buying them already made. I know there are people that like to cook, and for them the thing that goes will be something else. Rachel talked about her floors which might not get cleaned as often as she would like.
Bottom line--Make time for writing, eliminate something from your life. Ask yourself, will it make a difference to anyone in a hundred years? What have you done away with to make time for writing?
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7 comments:
Love it! I was feeling guilty but your right. Life is a smorgasbord and we have to chose. Thanks for the reminder.
Usually I eliminate sleep. I'm working on eliminating things that don't make me so sluggish.
You're right. (I wish I could've gone to that class).
We all have to pick and choose what we want to accomplish.
I went to the same class and found that I felt apologetic about being a writer. I was letting everything come before it. I have to start with "I am a writer!" and believing that is important enough to pursue. I'm cutting back on the number of credits I'm taking each semester towards my degree, because I found that I was spending too much time on homework!
David Baldacci for ten years before he became famous wrote regularly every night from 10 PM to 2 AM, writing plots, character studies, short stories and sceenplays. I have tried it but usually fall asleep by about 10:20. I am open to any ideas any of you come up with.
I find that most of the time when I tell someone I'm a writer all they can translate that into is "stay at home". It takes a lot to educate people about what you really do with your day so they understand and you don't have to get defensive. Fortunately, I have awesome visiting teachers who see the wild look come into my eyes and hear me muttering "deadline" as I shuffle down the hall. Instead of weird looks I get "no problem- what do you need." Maybe the first person you need to tell "I'm a Writer" is Heavenly Father- see what paths he can help you open up!
What a great concept. As I sat at my desk after reading your blog, contiplating what I needed to eliminate, I swiveled around in my chair and noticed one husband, four teenage children and a dog. Yes, the thought did cross my mind. Where do I start? Luckily the dog was smiling at me. Or maybe his lip was just stuck on a tooth. So I brought the topic up at dinner. My three sons decided that if I wanted unlimited writing time that I would have to commit a felony, then I would have all the time I wanted in prison to write. Only to have my husband remind me that a prison official would eventually find out that I write cook books and I would be doomed to eternal kitchen duty. That is why I am grateful for Alison Palmer who reminds us that if we really want to find the answers in our lives we need to ask our Heavenly Father to direct our path. (I'm 45 and have never even had a traffic ticket, and I use the turn signal at the end of the driveway)
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