Nourishing the Writer in Me
Well, the feedback on my first erotic short story was positive. I was told my steamy sex scene was quite brave and forthright. Overall, the readers enjoyed it and thought the story holds a lot of promise. I went in and made the suggested changes, which were definitely what the story needed, and now it's up for another round of critique. Who knows, maybe I have a new career in front of me!
I've realized one effect from my sabbatical is how all I think about now is writing. For years I pined for time to write. I tried several times to set aside an hour here or an hour there just for writing. I got up at 4:30 am several years ago, to write before heading off to work. When that fizzled out after two weeks (I absolutely hate, hate, hate getting up before six am), I changed my writing hour to 9:00 pm. That didn't work out because I was always so tired after a long day of work, the kids' activities, and other things going on. The writing was hit and miss for many, many years.
During sabbatical, writing was my job. My days were spent writing. I learned during those five months what it means to be a full-time writer, and I really, really liked it. I know I won't have the same amount of time to put into it now that I'm back at work, but I've made a huge change that is helping me fulfill my writing desire -- I have almost completely stopped watching TV.
We don't have cable, so we can't just turn on the TV and start flipping channels. We do have Netflix and Hulu, but I've found I've become really picky about the kind of show I want to watch. These shows are few and far between. With so little that strikes my fancy, I've simply stopped watching. When I do decide to sit down and watch something, it's late and the program usually causes me to fall asleep. I then just stumble off to bed.
The time I have now I use for writing. After dinner with the kids, after cleaning up, I settle in and write. I don't set an agenda so much as I just begin wherever I find myself. This evening, I revised the short story. After finishing it, I critiqued two pieces on the website then moved to revising one of my poems I've been struggling with (thankfully, I received some wonderful suggestions after posting it for critique). From there I wrote an email to my cousin, and now I'm writing here. This is what I want for myself now. It took too long to get to this spot in my life, and there have been some rough spots along the way, but I know now I can make the writing happen.
Tomorrow I don't have anything scheduled as a must-do other than getting the oil changed in the Jeep early in the morning. After that is finished, the day will be mine to write. My goal is to get a few new pieces going. Really new, as in going a different direction altogether. Should be interesting.
I've realized one effect from my sabbatical is how all I think about now is writing. For years I pined for time to write. I tried several times to set aside an hour here or an hour there just for writing. I got up at 4:30 am several years ago, to write before heading off to work. When that fizzled out after two weeks (I absolutely hate, hate, hate getting up before six am), I changed my writing hour to 9:00 pm. That didn't work out because I was always so tired after a long day of work, the kids' activities, and other things going on. The writing was hit and miss for many, many years.
During sabbatical, writing was my job. My days were spent writing. I learned during those five months what it means to be a full-time writer, and I really, really liked it. I know I won't have the same amount of time to put into it now that I'm back at work, but I've made a huge change that is helping me fulfill my writing desire -- I have almost completely stopped watching TV.
We don't have cable, so we can't just turn on the TV and start flipping channels. We do have Netflix and Hulu, but I've found I've become really picky about the kind of show I want to watch. These shows are few and far between. With so little that strikes my fancy, I've simply stopped watching. When I do decide to sit down and watch something, it's late and the program usually causes me to fall asleep. I then just stumble off to bed.
The time I have now I use for writing. After dinner with the kids, after cleaning up, I settle in and write. I don't set an agenda so much as I just begin wherever I find myself. This evening, I revised the short story. After finishing it, I critiqued two pieces on the website then moved to revising one of my poems I've been struggling with (thankfully, I received some wonderful suggestions after posting it for critique). From there I wrote an email to my cousin, and now I'm writing here. This is what I want for myself now. It took too long to get to this spot in my life, and there have been some rough spots along the way, but I know now I can make the writing happen.
Tomorrow I don't have anything scheduled as a must-do other than getting the oil changed in the Jeep early in the morning. After that is finished, the day will be mine to write. My goal is to get a few new pieces going. Really new, as in going a different direction altogether. Should be interesting.
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