Life’s Distractions, Take Two

I have officially been on summer vacation for eleven days, but it doesn’t feel like it. Nearly every day has been busy with something, distracting me from my writing. I think I have written three pages since my last day of work on June 13, and that’s not a very good average. I could blame my lack of writing on all of the daily activities that have interrupted (or filled, if you’re an optimist) my free time, but the truth is I haven’t been motivated.

Oh, I’ve had many ideas knocking around in my head, begging to be written down. The chapter I’ve been working on for two weeks, a party from Derek’s perspective, accosts me every morning as I drink my coffee. I hear the words whispering to me each moment my mind isn’t occupied with couponing, canning, grocery lists, daily chores, daughters’ demands, sewing projects, marketing, platform building, tweeting, facebooking (is that a verb?), and , well, you fill in the _____.

I’ve read and heard so many times that I have to make time to write, schedule an hour or two a day to get something down, and that’s all well and good, if I didn’t find five hundred other things to distract me (such as writing this post, but hey, it’s writing).

So I guess what I have to do is to decide, do I want to write this book or not? Is it worth my time, the time I take away from every other aspect of my life, to get this story out of me? And if it is worth it, how do I make it a priority? I can say I am the type of writer who has to wait for her muse, or when I’m motivated, or inspired, or driven…you get the excuse idea, when in reality, I just need to force myself to sit down and do it.

And as if writing this down has actually given rise to inspiration, I ask that any of you who know me and want to help me succeed, hold me accountable. Ask me how my book’s coming along, did I figure out that plot twist, or how Tara’s going to handle Hannah’s news. Again, you get the idea.

Now, I really am off to finish that chapter. Really.