My writing

I was asked in an email how my own writing is going. Well, lately it hasn't been. I was sick all of November with a respiratory infection, or walking pneumonia--don't know exactly what, but it was a cough that hung on for 5-6 weeks. Miserable. That hampered my writing most of the month.

Then December was...well, December. I decided not to even try writing that month. I didn't need any more stress. And it was a good thing. We had many health crises in our family. Between a father with unexplained chest pains, a brother with cancer, and a father-in-law with cancer, it seems like someone has always been in the hospital since mid-December.

In fact, we just celebrated Christmas with the in-laws on Friday because Brian's dad went into the hospital Christmas morning and was only released Wednesday.

Now, those are all convenient excuses. But in reality, writing should have been my pressure valve, my release and getaway.

I've let perfectionism get in my way. My WIP wasn't coming out the way I wanted it to--and I can't think of how it should end--so I stopped altogether. Because of my fears, what used to bring me pleasure is now simply another source of stress.

Will someone kick me please?

To understand more, go to Brandilyn's post for today, if you haven't already. I particularly liked the gem, "The perfect is the enemy of the good." And what it said about quitting is me exactly. In fact, if I didn't have a wonderful agent on my side, it would be so easy to quit. But he believes in me, has invested time in me, and wants to see what I come up with next. Besides that, landing an agent in the first place was God's confirmation to me that He wants me to keep writing.

So off I go. I intend to write today. If I don't write a single word today, I'll have to come back tomorrow and admit it to you. And I really don't want to do that. I want to come back and say I wrote at least 500 words. But even if it's only 5, I can say I got back to it.

See you then.