Monday Motivation - Would You Write More if You Had a Longer Day?

Time is a fleeting commodity. If we could extend by six hours, we’d manage to need another meal and probably a nap to get through a longer day. So if we had more hours, we would probably wind up making ourselves busier and not necessarily accomplishing much more.

A little over a week ago I pulled something out of place in my lower back. Once the back was feeling a bit better, I strained the muscles around my hip as I tried to catch up on things too soon. That slowed me down again. As I looked around at what I couldn’t do, I focused on what I could do.

I had more time for editing and rewriting, catching up on emails and correspondence and some creative endeavors. Translation: More sitting than usual. After a little r & r with hubby on the weekend, I am overly positive about Monday, in fact most Mondays I am ready to attack the house and writing. Somehow I think I will be Super Writer and Homemaker. Usually by Thursday I realize there’s no way I will accomplish everything I’ve set out to do for the week.

So there I am: I have the same seven twenty-four blocks of time I did last week. For me, this is where a list comes in handy. As all the chores I need to catch up on flood my mind, writing time isn’t swept over with the tidal wave of to-dos. Whether it’s on the list or written in the appointment book, I have made sure writing time gets noticed. Barring sickness or emergencies, if I don’t make the time for writing it’s nobody else’s fault. That block of time didn’t get sucked into a vacuum, but once it’s gone, it’s gone.

Right now I’m able to take chunks of time, as in two or more hours, and go at it. But writing time in your life it may look a bit different. It may be twenty minutes outlining what you want to write before the kids get up or you leave for work. It may be thirty minutes researching your topic at lunch time and taking a few notes. Or it may be an hour at the end of the day to write what you outlined that morning after your family goes to bed.

Whatever works for you, don’t be a victim of the tyranny of the urgent, use time wisely to make the most of your writing—starting today.

Writing Prompt: They strolled through the woods to find . . .

(Incorporate as many senses as you can into this pleasant spring stroll!)

Monday Motivation - More Write Prioritizing

More Write Prioritizing

Household chores are done, check. Laundry placed in dryer, check. Seated comfortably in recliner, check. Homemade low-fat caramel latte sitting on the end table at my side, check. Cat sleeping on lap, check. Flames are dancing in the fireplace and music is playing on the radio. My circumstances are now just right for my daily writing appointment. However, why don’t I just check my email and get it out of the way first? Then I won’t be curious if anyone has replied about something important. Well, then I should answer another email, write a little, read a blog, make a comment, recommend the article on Twitter and Google +, write a little more, hit like on friends’ Facebook statuses . . . Oh look, it’s nearly time to make dinner.

Now my two hours of uninterrupted, productive writing time has become 45 minutes. My ten in the morning writing appointment didn’t start until 2:30 p.m. But  it only took a couple of minutes to check my email, right? Wrong! While I do admit to truly being present for my writing appointment three times last week and being fairly productive during those times, it certainly made me look more closely at what I am truly doing with my writing time. I sure am easily distracted!

A successful author friend of mine encouraged me to make writing even more of a priority. She challenged me not to even check email or any social media before I write until I hit a set daily word count. Hmm . . . Or I’m thinking, at least hit goals for the day, whether it’s finishing an outline or a chapter.

This week’s goal is to move writing time to the next priority after time with the Lord and a little exercise. I don’t have to have everything perfect first. The dust bunnies aren’t going anywhere!

I do miss the days of physically having to plug in the modem to be on the Internet, though. Yes, I can turn the connection off while I write, but distractions are only a mouse-click away. What about you—how do you unplug from the Internet and social media while you write? Please share in the comment section below!

This week’s writing prompt: The first time I went to see a movie in the theater I . . .

Enjoy the walk down memory lane today!

Saturday Spiritual Uplift - Thinking About Time

Fisher Building, Detroit,
from Wikimedia Commons {GNU}

 Thinking About Time

God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”

And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day. (Gen. 1:5, NLT)

For you, a thousand years are as a passing day,


as brief as a few night hours. (Ps. 90:4, NLT)

So teach us to number our days,


That we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Ps. 90:12, NKJV)

When I was a little girl, we often drove into downtown Detroit for doctor and dentist appointments. Dad pulled the car in front of the Fisher Building, the tallest building in Detroit at the time, and Mom and I got out. The building was only 30 stories tall, a junior skyscraper among skyscrapers today, but when I gazed up at the tower of concrete and marble with windows stacked floor upon floor, reaching up toward the sky, dizziness overtook me and my heart drummed away. To my petite personage, the height of the Fisher Building was incomprehensible.

Often when I’ve thought of the eternal nature of God I have felt this same way. When those feelings overtake me I know I'm out ofmy league in comprehension. Faith must take over. Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega—the Trinity has no beginning and no end. Does that mean everything is in a circle and time just repeats itself? I doubt that, but I do believe the Lord sees time differently than we do. He invented linear time for us, but He’s not limited by it.

As humans we like to read stories or watch shows about time travel, because the subject is fascinating for us. What if we could travel to the past? Could we change what we’ve done, so that mistakes are fixed? If we traveled to the future would we really want to know what awaits us? We’d like to know the good things, but would we be ready to deal with the negative?

God, on the other hand, exists eternally. He was with us in the past, He is in our present and our future. He gives us wisdom to deal with consequences and to learn from our mistakes and He supplies grace for the difficulties that lie ahead, when the time comes. He is infinite, but our finite little minds can’t comprehend all of these layers at one time, so the years of our lives are linear, numbered in days. If we ask, He will guide us to make the best use of our time, one day at a time, in this new year of 2014.

Father, please give us Your wisdom and grace for the days ahead. Help us to number the days of this year and use them in a way, which would please You. Thank you for whatever time You’ve given us to live for You. Amen.