Struggling…trying…

Since I had to go back to work full-time about two years ago, I have not been nurturing my creative writing career. When I write for work, I find it hard to find the brainspace for my creative writing. That and, as a single mom of three kids (one not-self-driven and applying to colleges), I’m just so darned busy.

In the past few months, I’ve been able to cut my hours back some, and more recently, I’ve resolved to set aside at least a few hours on Thursdays for my own work. There always seems to be something that encroaches on the time, but for the second week in a row I am at least doing some of the business of writing if not the writing itself.

Last week I spent the morning preparing submissions for a contest. Granted, I hadn’t written anything new for a while, but I had a stack of stories I’d never submitted anywhere that fit the contest category. While it wasn’t as grand an accomplishment as writing a new story or finishing revising the epic essay I’ve been working on, it was something, and for now that’s all I can ask of myself.

Today, I am spending the morning doing pitches for a column in which I’ve been published in the past (the last time a year ago). Hanging over me is an article I need to edit for the publication I work on, as well as the oil-change in my car, the shopping and packing I need to do for a ski trip this weekend (as well as aforementioned epic essay revision), and a half hour on the StairMaster, but I’m determined to at least get this out and have it be killer. Not so easy, but at this point any small steps I can take are better than what’s been going on creatively with me for the past couple of years.

Of course, the fact that I’m writing this post on a Thursday morning tells you a little bit about my ability to procrastinate. Oh, let’s put a positive spin on that and say that I am actually processing what I’ve written so far so I can go back and refine it…