by Michael Cristiano

 

Not being able to write is a sad fact of life for a writer. There’s laundry to do, there’s food to cook, there’s sleep to be had. Worse, I have this pesky illness that eats up a lot of my time. I toil day in and day out to keep it at bay and under control. Sometimes, it creeps into my evenings, just when I think I’ve escaped. Worse, the horror of it all often keeps me awake at night and the dread fills my dreams with terror and sadness.

Oh, I’m not sick… I have a 9-to-5 job.

In any case, the truth is that my job isn’t that bad. I love the people I work with and to be honest, the job in and of itself is mostly an enjoyable and painless experience. But what I’m getting at is that I often feel like I don’t have a lot of time or energy at the end of the day to do what I really love: writing! Instead, I’m left repeating the same thoughts over and over again in my head as I toil through things that I would rather not do if it meant I had more time to write.

Here are a few of those thoughts:

1. “Today is the day. I’m in the mood to write, I’m excited for where story is taking me. I just have something to do first. But if I get through it quickly, maybe I can squeeze in a half-hour of writing.”

2. “And I’ll have to remember to work in this new development I’ve just thought up. It’ll completely change everything and set the story on the right track!”

3. “Ahhh! This task is going to take longer than I thought it would. Guess I should write this idea down before I forget it.”

4. “Okay, I have no pen. I guess I’ll just have to remember. Repeat something three times and it becomes a long-term memory, right?”

5. “And I’ve forgotten this life-changing development…”

6. “Task done. Time to sit down and write. Oh, wait, I should probably do this other time-consuming task while I have a little free time.”

7. “It’s okay. No need to get stressed out. Just relax. You can finish this quickly and then get to writing.”

8. “I think I just did this task wrong. Ughh.”

9. “Okay, seriously. Just relax. On-the-ball Olivia said it wouldn’t take long. Just focus and get it done and then all the leisure time shall be MINE!”

10. “Wait. I think I’ll watch some Netflix first. There’s that new movie I’ve been so excited to see. It’ll get me back in the creative mood.”

11. “Time to download some new music. I can’t write without some fresh inspiration to get the juices flowing.”

12. “And I’ve just received the email I’ve been dreading. Writing. Delayed. AGAIN.”

13. “Done. Now I’ll creep a little Facebook to calm me down. That email got me a little worked up.”

14.“Such a cute kitty. Whose little cute kitty are you?”

15. “Okay, plug in the USB, open the manuscript I’m working on,” and…

“I don’t even feel like writing any more.”

 

 

 

Guest post contributed by Michael Cristiano. He works in editing and acquisitions for Curiosity Quills Press, and his freelance work has appeared on websites such as Nexopia, FluentU, and BlushPost. Check out his blog for more of his work.