I was a little bit excited to start my new short story, had it all mapped out with character sketches and a plot outline. I started it three days ago. And now it is flotsam, awash in the milieu that is my life, forgotten and forlorn as I attend to more pressing needs.
This is just one example of how writing takes a back seat to life, often by necessity. I really don’t have a choice. I cannot tell my employer to hold a deadline while I take a few days off to finish a story. Nor can I tell my kids to go chillax while daddy writes. Some things are more pressing than others and writing gets kicked to the back burner, to simmer, to burn or to turn to mush while life’s demands occupy your attention.
The key for me is to have that story calling to me every day...Spike, come bring us to life, make us dance, give us something to do. Of course, I have several projects talking to me and the squeakiest wheel will get my attention. Whether it is the novel, the memoir, the journal, the Blog or the short story that gets my attention depends entirely on which story is calling the loudest and most stridently. More often than not, the most strident voice is that of life’s responsibilities and the stories will have to wait.
As long as they keep calling me, insistently and with commitment, they will get attention from me, they will get written, they will get brought to life.
Spike
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