BY NANCY KAY CLARK
editor/publisher of CommuterLit
Copyright is held by the author.
DESPITE OUR best efforts to be disciplined, sometimes life gets in the way and prevents us from keeping to our daily writing schedule. When that happens, I try to keep at least a toe dipped in the writing world by:
1. Journaling. I’m not big on journaling daily or writing “morning pages”. But when I am short of time, I find jotting down snatches of overheard conversations, or recording a particular vivid dream in a notebook helpful. It doesn’t have to be daily, and the entries don’t have to be long, nor do I feel I have to develop all those bits and pieces into full stories. It just keeps me in touch with my creative side.
2. Episodic or short-form writing. Writing short does not necessarily mean it’s easier to write than writing long, but you will get to the end of the first draft and feel that sense of accomplishment quicker than you would when embarking on an epic novel. Therefore, I usually switch to the shorter forms when I’m time-strapped.
3. Have fun. If I only have one or two hours per week to write, I let myself off the hook. So what if what I produce will not be award-winning literature? I just try to have fun.