I’ve planned to write a novel for the last 21 years, but have regularly procrastinated my way out of it. I majored in English during my first college go-round. I started out in a creative writing track, but switched to literature due to a lack of confidence and discipline to write anything more than my assigned papers and my honors thesis.
In my career I’ve identified myself as a writer first and as my job title or function second. Even when working as a systems engineer and computer programmer, I would introduce myself to people saying, “I work for [insert company name here]…but I have an English degree!”
I have always put my work and other aspects of my personal life before my writing, but blogging, and the feedback and support I’ve received from the blogging community, has helped me break through the inertia of my life and really look forward to writing every day.
I can no longer wait for the perfect time to write my novel. The perfect time never exists. New deadlines and appointments appear every day, and I will no longer use them as excuses for not writing.
I choose when and where to write. I choose when and where not to write. The unwritten novel is a culmination of my choices not to write over the last 21 years.
I CAN write a novel, and so can you. Anyone can if they choose to make the time and put in the effort.
I’m going to write mine in October.
When will you write yours?