Slacker Writer

I've become very disappointed in myself lately. These past few months, I had fully intended to not only get ahead with my soaping but with my writing as well. The plan was originally to be finished with the Right of Succession rewrites and edits by now and be working on creating the paperback proofs.

Yeah, I'm not done with the rewrites yet. I'm doing okay on soap production, despite running out of half my fragrance oils getting ready for Homespun last week and having to wait on a resupply order to get in. The problem is, I tend to get started with one particular thing and become obsessive about that thing until I finish. Last week, I spent four days obsessively soaping, taking product photos, and wrapping all these new products to get ready for my first show of the year after the others got canceled. I didn't to the first bit of writing.

Before that, we had a lot of stuff going with the typical end of year homeschool group stuff, health, appointments, and appliances breaking down. Plus, we've been occupied with tending Connie and Zipper's kittens and trying to find homes for them. (See my YouTube channel for more on the kittens.) So, writing's been low on the priorities list.

Besides which, I haven't felt awake enough to slog through and straighten out the knots my manuscript is tied in. Sometimes I really wish I could be one of those writers who works from an outline. My stories always come out in a convoluted jumble of events and ideas, which I have to spend months sorting into some semblance of order once that first mess has made it to the page. This is why serial publishing doesn't work for me, no matter how much I've wanted it to.

A while back, I came across Sonja Faust's newest book on writing through her Pinterest blog. I don't care for a lot of the language she and her cowriter use, but they make some good points. One of which is no matter how crappy your writing for that particular day, make sure you spend some time each day writing. This is where I've been failing, and I'm sure it's why my last publishing credit, for anything other than blog posts, was the week before Boo Bear was born. Ever since I became a mom, I haven't made sure I spend at least an hour or so writing each and every day.

I've been a slacker as a writer.

I'm not sure if I can make it absolutely every single day writing. Some days there just isn't enough time I can spend away from the kitchen if I want to get the timing right for my designs to turn out for me to get into writing in any coherent way. So, I've decided to try alternating soaping and writing days. Maybe it'll work, and I'll start cranking out one or two novels a year plus all the usual soapy goodness. Maybe it won't.

But I'm determined to stop being a slacker writer.