When the Season Isn’t For Writing
Our farm . . . with our neighbor’s cows.
This morning, I woke at 5:30, started the coffee, fed the dogs, and went out the door. I came in an hour later with three cabbages, a tray of strawberries, and a mess of mustard greens, swiss chard, spinach and lettuce. Then, I prepared breakfast, grabbed a quick sip of my coffee, and drew up a progesterone in oil shot for my husband to give me as part of our fertility treatments.
By the time 8am rolled around, I had not even done my normal mornings reading and journaling let alone the writing I might have wanted to do if it simply hadn’t seemed impossible. Right now, this is not a season in my life where I can produce new writing – or at least new writing for publication.
What the Experts Say
I know there are all those writing wizards out there that say you have to write every day, that to be a “real writer” (good glory, I loathe that phrase) you have to do it no matter what . . . and to be honest, at moments in my life, I have said those things, too.
But the truth is that our lives, when lived well, are made of up seasons – times when the writing is fruitful and plentiful and the time to do it either abundant or at least salvageable AND times when the energy, the ideas, the time are just not there. To deny that these seasons exist is to act as if life is a single plane that never changes, and that’s a lie. A big lie.
So take freedom, my friends. You can write when you want . . . just make sure you hold time for it sometimes if you want to do it.
(By the way, I don’t think there’s much that is uniform for all writers or for even one writer all the time, which is why I wrote Discover Your Writing Self. Maybe it would be freeing to you during this season of your writing life?)
What I’m Doing Instead of Writing
Sometimes, I feel like this list is so long I might keel over under it’s weight – I expect you can relate sometimes, right?
- In a couple of weeks, my husband and I will know if our fertility treatments have been successful, and if they have, we will be preparing to parent. If they have not, we will be regrouping.
- We are moving into the height of garden season on our farm, so I’ll be planting and weeding and harvesting in the early mornings and cool evenings.
- I’m finishing up the revisions on a book on racism in the Christian church that will – if all goes as hoped – come out next summer.
- I’m carrying around the hope for Love Letters to Writers, which I will hopefully release later this summer.
- I’m planning for the return of the Discover Your Writing Self course as a pay-what-you-will journey for any takers in July. (Stay tuned for details.)
- I’m reading fun books and eating lots of strawberries and enjoying our animals.
What about you? What does this season look like for you? Leave a comment below and share. Is this a time of writing or not for you?
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