photo by Johannes Plenio

It’s a Saturday afternoon in the lovely Pacific Northwest. Despite medications {plural} my is head thick and eyes burning from allergies as the nearby, behemoth cottonwoods are blooming. Not to mention all the other trees around here. Then, too, my back is complaining from yesterday’s gardening bout that included digging and hoeing.  So I’ve been puttering indoors and out handling tasks that don’t involve lifting.  This means I’m  writing a bit, editing some, planning my week, and trying not to succomb to dismay and jitters because it’s April.

Already.

And yes, I’m lamenting. Despite the lovely blossoming world surrounding me.

I wish you could see the many sumptious shades of green and smell the soft air around here.

While I’m basking in the greens and blooms, at times my heart clutches as a hard reality dawns. My writing habits fell apart lately. I won’t bore you with the details. but but this is a long-languishing project and worse, this is the book of my heart. I need to put in lots of hours to create the first substanial draft.  As in hundreds. Come to think of it, make that thousands.

Some things in life are best not counted.

Because I’m a developmental editor–a profession that requires stamina, focus, and brainpower, I play a game of Should I? or Shouldn’t I?  It asks shouldn’t I spend my most productive hours working on my clients’ manuscripts using my morning brain?  Most of them have publishing deadlines which means I have deadlines too.  Or, should I return to my long-time practice of writing by dawn’s early light? Ahem, as in first thing in the morning.

I miss writing take up a big part of my days and nights. And I love my work and the writers I work with.

In the coming weeks I’m going to experiment and alternate with some days writing early, some days fitting it in here and there. Sometimes writing away from home. Throw in a few short writing retreats, even if they’re a few hours from home.

And, of course, tending my garden, weeding a lot, and just keeping up with the small tasks that come with being human. Because it’s April. So I’m worried that the dahlia bulbs I left in a large raised bed to overwinter are now mush. A few I dug up looked like potatoes that have rotted. We’ve got a dry spell coming up if the weather report is somewhat accurate, so I’m not going to despair yet.

Surely I’m not the only one flabberghasted at time’s sometimes breakneck and cruel pace. It seems like I just stashed away the Christmas decorations. I’ll confess it was the first week of January.

What about you? Are your writing projects on track? Sputtering or flowing along? Or a little of both? How do you manage your schedule when the season changes such as when you want to spend more times outdoors?

How do you make your writing goals a priority? Would love to hear from you.

Time to stop kevtching and share my current mantra:

Photo by Justin Veenema

As always, keep writing, keep dreaming, have heart