Back In The Saddle

It has been far too long since I posted here. Summer has a way of sidetracking me --- that' is a good thing, right? I mean, we all need a little vacation now and then, except...I wouldn't exactly call what I've been on a vacation. It's more like one heck of a wild ride.

Summer means I'm still doing everything I usually do, only now with house full of bodies (living ones, thank you very much!) and noise. Even though the hectic pace is kept up, my writing projects are not. Sure, I get in a few hours here and there, stolen mostly from budgeted housekeeping and gardening time. I try to sneak in a sentence or two while the TV is blaring downstairs or - shame on me! - when I bribe my youngest with games on my Ipad. But solitude is my style - my writing style, that is - and so it hasn't been easy to work at home. No excuses, just fact.

With the beginning of the school year right around the corner, though, it's time to get back in the saddle again. First things first: I have to make sure to pick the right horse.

I have so many books I want to write, it's hard to decide which unfinished manuscript to take out for a ride. Do I keep going with my series? Organize my essays for a book of daily inspirational tidbits? Work on the memoir? Polish up the children's picture books? If I take too long choosing my ride, I may just take the lazy man's way out, putting it off until tomorrow. A tomorrow that may never come.

I don't really want that. The only way to change the result is to change what I'm doing. 

Last night I got spurred into action by climbing unto the wrong saddle: I filled in at the front desk at my old "day job". After the initial discomfort of  trying to remember how to do once simple tasks, and familiarizing myself with the new operating system, I managed okay. It was a job I never minded doing, and they would probably have me back, if that's what I wanted. However, to use one more horse analogy, that steed is not going to take me where I want to go, not for all the prodding in the world. 

And so, it's time to get back into my custom made saddle of being an independent writer/author/illustrator. That means making choices and acting upon them, working hard, and doing the unpleasant bits (no one likes to muck a stall! - Can anyone say "marketing"?) in order to enjoy the rest of the ride.

Here's to happy trails!