Craft of Writing: Stolen Moments.

Dear Reader,

There's a reason why I do a lot of writing by hand. A notebook is easier for me to carry around than my laptop. They're also hardier if you drop them. Notebooks are great when I have to jot down an idea and I don't have access to my computer. Much of my writing is done in stolen moments. That bit of free time that I may have as the kids are doing homework, I am sitting down with a notebook and working on a project.

I write when I find that I have a little time in the morning that I have between the time to put one kid on the bus and get the other ready for school. I write when they're eating after I have finished my food. I write while I'm waiting for food to cook. I write while I am between chores. If I could, I'd be writing while I sat waiting at a stop light.

I take the same approach to my writing that I do with my handcrafting. Slower by the minute, faster by the mile. If I am going to try to write a ton of work in one sitting, my life doesn't tend to cooperate with that. That's what makes NaNoWriMo such a challenge. If I am working on projects in bits and pieces, I actually get them completed. I don't think I am going to be able to write to deadlines like others do it. It makes me kinda sad and feel like I am not a 'real' author because I can't meet the deadlines that I set for myself. Case in point, book seven was supposed to be done three years ago at the end of NaNoWriMo but life happened.

I tell myself that I may not be the author that whips off a best selling book every few weeks but I am a productive author who gets work done. It just takes more time and planning than some others do. And that is ok because I am not in a race with anyone. I just have to do my best and accept that it is good enough. Because any manuscript can be a good one with sufficient editing and revision.