Wednesday 21 May 2014

Writing without guilt


This is a happy woman.

I've struggled for years to find time to write my own work. When I've crammed stories and poems into days when other people expected me to be writing copy for them, I felt guilty that I wasn't earning money (or at least probably wasn't - we have to have hope when we write stories that someone might pay to read them). When I wrote in the evenings and weekends I felt guilty that I was ignoring my family.

So I"ve instituted a new thing. On Wednesdays I will write for myself. I'm keeping my diary clear, and I'm being firm with myself and with the people I love. Wednesdays are for me, and I won't spend them cleaning out cupboards or doing the accounts, or soothing anxious brows, or anything except writing or thinking about writing.

Up there, behind the mug, is a woman who's just spent a day thinking and writing, and she feels much better for it.