Alice Buell Lawrence

Admission: I’m procrastinating ever so slightly. It’s been a long week with a lot of late nights at work, and I am somewhat tired. But the pen is full of ink and I have three days off in a row: it’s time to write and edit.

I have a short story underway for a future collection, a new chapter to write for a novel that is in its nascent stages, and a couple of short stories I’m editing up to get out there and submit. The short story is part of a project where I’ve been writing about my life on the shores of Lake Superior. I miss that life, and this is a way to hold onto it just that little bit. The chapter is for the novel where I have one compelling character written up and I’m trying to craft the second. This chapter will be the first part of his story. And the editing involves stories three and four of the ones I intend to send out into the world in the near future. I’ve found a slightly better voice that I’ve used before (no idea where it came from, but suddenly I can make the stuff in my head come out on the page a LOT more directly), and I’m prepping my work from the past couple of years with that voice. Plenty of projects to choose from, plenty to switch between.

The big fear, as always, is losing focus and not pulling through my work. This happened last weekend when I let myself get into my laptop a little bit too much (the only real screen I have in my life). Once I’m up and working, it feels amazing, but getting there sometimes feels like climbing a mountain at the start of the day. I write better either in the morning or late at night, though, so sacrifices must be made.

Life is full of all sorts of distractions, and things just, you know, happen. I only have a couple of small publication credits so far, so I’m not doing this for a living anytime soon. I need to balance my time with work and something resembling both a social life and self care. I have a lot of projects up ahead. I want to finish them in my lifetime.

So it’s little things. Clearing out spaces on my big desk, the one I’ve been hauling with me through more than a half dozen moves in the last 20 years, and around my small desk, the one I bought to fit into more social spaces so I can be included in stuff going on but still do my work, to set up shop and work. I’ve made sure I have my trusty Freewrite, my pens, and my drafts at hand. Hoping to get two chapters and one story written as well as two pieces completely edited and ready to fly over these three days.

I can do this. Writing is like breathing. A deep breath sets the tone.

Wish me luck.