Word count: 1465

I learned several things about myself as a writer today. I learned that I can’t spell worth shit when I’m writing and that I love my backspace key. I found that it’s really, really hard for me to write for an entire hour without getting up and moving. I also have a really hard time not correcting myself while I’m writing. Part of that was because (I discovered) when I was writing without correcting, I was misspelling to the point that what I wrote would be unintelligible when I came back to it later. I admit to correcting those errors. It was very, very hard, though, for me to just leave all those squiggly red lines. It was also really difficult for me to sit my butt in the chair and not get up for an entire hour. That surprised me. Usually, sitting in one place is very easy for me, I thought. I guess I move around more when I’m writing than I thought I did.

My takeaway?

1. I need to make myself sit in the chair more often and not give into distractions like “Oh, the dryer’s done.”
2. I need to carve out sacred writing time each day that nothing interferes with, short of the house burning down around my ears. I used to do this when we were in the condo, but for some reason, now that we’ve moved into our house, I find myself letting other things (especially housework) intrude on my writing time.
3. I need to spend less time per day on Facebook. I just can’t leave it open while I’m working. I have to accept the fact that I will miss some of the things posted to my favorite groups (except ours, of course).
4. Not to feel guilty if DH does some of the housework. He knows I’m really working during the day and is only trying to help me. I am not a failure if I can’t keep house and write 2000 words a day. Work time has to be for work, even if I’m the only one interrupting it.

So, thanks to Joe for joining in on this. I hope to see more people playing with us next week.

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