100 Day Creative Challenge Day 88: Reasons To Write
There are a hundred good reasons not to write. You have to steal back the time from your busy life and make your writing a priority. All art is in the doing. Action has magic grace and power.
I gave a talk at the Inspire Collective the other night about how God has given each one of us a ‘song to sing’. This song is our destiny, our purpose and our message all wrapped up in something that has been sown in our heart.
Most of my talk was about how I have avoided writing a novel that’s been in my head since 2010. I’ve written about it many times and often write about it as a form of procrastination. While I’m writing blogs, other novels, articles and so on, I’m avoiding actually writing the novel I should be.
All that to say, I have so many reasons why I haven’t written this novel:
- I travel a lot
- I have a lot of housework
- I need to exercise
- I have an auto-immune condition and I get tired
- I volunteer
- I have three other novels on the go
- My son got married
The list could go on.
The Reasons I Have To Write
The reasons I have to write this book are far more important than the reasons not to:
- I feel compelled to write it.
- The story needs to be told.
- There’s a message I need to share.
- Writing can change lives, and there are lives that might be changed.
- If I can inspire people to give voice to their real selves, I play a part in their process.
- In some minuscule way I might just be able to change a small part of the world.
Sometimes people say to me, ‘I want to write, but I have five kids, a full-time job, a tremendous debt to my parents’ and so on. I say to them, ‘There is no excuse. If you want to write, write. This is your life. You are responsible for it. You will not live forever. Don’t wait. Make the time now.’ Natalie Goldberg
So I’m making time. I’m scheduling. I’m making myself accountable. I’m writing the book.
I’ll keep you posted!
