Face, Meet Wall

So I slammed into a wall last weekend.  I didn’t think it was coming right until I went head first into it.  I should have known it was coming from how sick Mom’s been and how sick I’ve been.  But I slammed face first into it.  When it came time to write last week’s blog post, the words weren’t there, and the ideas didn’t materialize.

I’ve been fighting the feeling that I should be further along in my writing career than where I am.  That I’m not hustling enough.  Never mind that I’m working a full time job and all am the primary caretaker for my mother. And I felt like a failure.  What good is a writer who can’t write?

Then this article popped up in my RSS reader. I read it.  I reread it. I cried.  Combined with a reminder by my writing mentor that I am doing things (prepping queries, outlining other novels, and so on) that may not be putting words on the page, but do constitute the business of writing.  I am still a writer.

So I’m trying to go easier on myself.  Allow myself some downtime. Remind myself that even if I’m not putting words on the page, I am still working towards my goal.  It’s not a sprint, but a marathon.  It will take as long as it takes.