Not Written in Stone

“Has anything about your writing routine changed since you first began?”

Oh, gosh, yes.

When I decided that I was going to seriously get into writing, it was mostly non-fiction. Just getting my thoughts, research, and facts in order was easy enough. I even wrote while on lunch breaks when I was working. I found getting published fairly easy.

When life changed, it changed big-time, and my life keeps changing ‘big-time’. Previously, I could write in the evenings or late at night when The Husband was working and I was alone,(or whoever was here was occupied or asleep). Even then it went pretty smoothly.

Then things got really complicated. I would go long periods of not-writing and then do so in spurts. Nearly all of what I was writing was fiction, except posts, for here and for my other cooking and entertaining blog.

A few years back I was in an accident, I needed major surgery at the same time The Husband was pressed into early retirement. He has been supportive of my writing, but when it is completed. The time it takes to gather thoughts and put them onto the PC is something that he doesn’t quite understand. He gets interested, and the questions start and, well, if you write, you know that simply doesn’t work…at all.

He also has found the joys of the internet, which means that he takes the only computer that is online, which happens also to be the one where I generally write.

To be fair, there are two other PCs here, one is way underpowered and not in a convenient place. It was our first PC, with far memory than my way out-of-date smartphone. The other is also no longer supported against viruses because it is too old, but The Husband invested into it with updating, adding RAM and the like. I can use that at a desk in the living room, which is where I worked years back. At least, I THINK that I can. Most of my WIPs are on flash drives, although one has a lot of support material also on the main PC. Of course, there is also the incapability on the online one of looking something up immediately while on that one.

(Aside: How much do you want to bet that I get everything set up on the other PC and The Husband starts playing games there again?)

There have been a number of other changes in my life. Several times I expected to have an empty nest over the last several years, only to have people boomerang back, and  that is happening now. Even when they aren’t, I still find myself on the phone or texting or running errands because of other family members need, so getting a set time to write has been hard. With the recent returnees, I do not have the mornings to myself, which has been the best time for me to write while The Husband is asleep.
But the nest will be empty again soon.
Dealing with Granddoggy alone has kept me hopping.

 I have enjoyed my stint here at 4F,1H. I am not near other writers with whom I feel that I can join for real discussions and supprt. I haven’t found any online groups for myself, so getting to know many others and their processes through communications by interviewing has been very helpful.  I enjoyed interviewing greatly, but that has just slipped. Although I discovered many wonderful writers and their books, I realized this week that I was accepting far too many books in which I have no interest, of starting books which I have not found exactly enthralling, and putting off reading many books published by those whom I know and like because I was out hunting for guests.

Plus, interviewing takes time; setting up bookcovers and pictures in time consuming, especially when, (as I am finding more and more), the guests don’t pay attention to my guidelines. When they do, it makes everything go smoothly. (The more successful and busier the guest, generally the easier and more cooperative they are. The old “The bigger they are, the nicer they are” is a good generalization when it comes to authors.) So, I am taking a break from  interviewing, at least  for a while.

What I have continued to find helpful is interaction on Facebook with other writers, and the blogs to which I am directed from there. There is where I find advice and inspiration to continue to write.

So, yes, once again I am in a state of flux and change. The timing of this topic could not have been more appropriate; had it shown up more than a week ago, it would have had entirely different content.

I wish I could tell you what my routine is now, but there just isn’t one, but one must come.

I simple have to shed some of the old and embrace the new. Change is good.