Life moves pretty fast

Am I missing it?

It’s certainly been a while. Since I’ve last written, I took in a stray kitten, failed NaNoWriMo, had a few upper respiratory infections, managed health concerns for my senior cat, joined the board of my local Friends of the Library as well as a local in-person writing group, finally joined the present day with my phone, got the reemergence of my adult acne under control, bought my wedding gown, and decided on my favorite reads of 2023.

I was busy, but I wasn’t busy writing. I’m convinced every writer feels this way—we’re never living up to the expectations we have for ourselves. I’ve touched on this here before, but an embarrassing trip down memory lane this weekend, along with ever-present reminders I am inching toward middle age, made me want to write about it and hopefully, do something about it.

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I graduated high school almost 19 years ago. I was weird and let everybody know about it, and my then predictions for life were mostly wrong. (In my defense, most of the “goals” my peers immortalized in the senior yearbook weren’t met.) The one I have hope for, though, is this:

publish a fiction novel or novella

I’d amend that to “get a book on the shelf” now, but the truth that all I’ve ever wanted—more than all the traditional markers of success in life—has been to have my work in the world makes me feel like I’m missing out.

I don’t regret my path and am not resentful of where I am right now, but I know I need to change something—some things?—to catch up to where I want to be. I feel like part of catch up involves getting away from it all for a while. A weekend or even a week off isn’t enough. It takes me a while to reset and refocus my mind after a work day/week.

I know I’m not at the point in my life where I can take the kind of break I need, so what do I do?

I’m attending a webinar about this soon, but in addition to any advice I pull from that, I know being mindful of how I spend my leisure time makes a difference. Scrolling through Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading puts me in a better place than Instagram or Facebook does, and a morning walk is more freeing than lazy lounging. I often think about/try leaving traditional social media for good, but during my trials, I always crawl back because there are aspects of it that are convenient. Plus, my day job is in marketing. It’s hard to not poke around.

There’s no real conclusion to this post, other than a reminder to myself and anyone reading that time doesn’t wait for us. Months and years will go by no matter what—why not use them to make the things you want to happen . . . happen?

Until next time,