Excuses, Excuses

“Dear Mr. Blog Manager, please excuse Carlton for being late with his post. Life has happened. Thank you.”

Sound familiar? Writers know that to be successful, they need to write regularly. That’s a great concept, but sometimes it is hard to execute when life seems to hit all around us.

“Dear Mr. Blog Manager, please excuse Carlton for being late with his post. His cat got injured.”

Life can take some unexpected turns, forcing us to set aside our writing. Those turns are part of the journey, but we can’t let them keep us from our work forever (the cat is recovering nicely, by the way).

“Dear Mr. Blog Manager, please excuse Carlton for being late with his post. Work is crazy right now.”

Most of us “Almost An Author” types have day jobs that put food on the table. And, I don’t know about you, but there are seasons when those jobs are just plain wacky. I’m a college professor and just started a new semester, and it has been wackier than usual. I’ve learned I have to ride out those seasons and hope for calmer times when I can give more attention to writing.

“Dear Mr. Blog Manager, please excuse Carlton for being late with his post. He just met a big deadline and is out of words right now.”

Ever felt that way? There was an old song that said “26 letters are all I have.” Stringing those letters into meaningful sentences can be hard when you’re just off a big assignment.

“Dear Mr. Blog Manager, please excuse Carlton for being late with his post. He just took his sons off to college, and the preparation and follow-through were tough.”

Transitions can be tricky, and my wife and I are currently getting accustomed to the empty nest. The buildup to that was big, and for a few weeks you couldn’t get through my living room for the plastic totes, foot lockers, duffel bags, and the like. We’re all doing well in our new roles, but my focus has been on the transition as of late.

We all have excuses for not writing as we should. Some of those excuses are legitimate, while others don’t hold up as well. I could have easily written that I’ve played too much Spider Solitaire or obsessed quite a bit over the Olympics. Those wouldn’t sound as good, would they?

So, back to writing. No excuses. Right after I beat my high score in Spider Solitaire.