Writing Intention
When I first started writing, writing seriously, I wrote whenever I could: day time, nap time, after bed time, you name it. If there was ten free minutes, I was at my computer, furiously writing or critiquing away. It drove my family crazy. I needed a better plan but with an infant at home, one girl in preschool and the other in elementary school, my time never felt like my own. I was always cooking, cleaning, picking up, dropping off, and putting kids down to nap, all while buried under a never-ending pile of laundry.
In April, my friend Laurie and I decided to take Study Hall with Marcie Colleen. It seemed like a way to get us on track with our writing, make connections and work on our craft with a supportive leader and group. I was not wrong. But the most important thing Marcie taught me that I could utilize right away, was to name a daily writing intention and to have an accountability partner. Done and done!
Each morning, Laurie and I would wake up and text each other our writing intention for the day or the next hour. When the hour was over we would check in again to see how it went. If nothing else went right that day, at least we had accomplished our writing intention.
It’s crazy but I seem to get more done in that first hour than I do at any other writing time during the day. It starts the day off right, feeling like I have accomplished something. Plus whatever I was working on, sits in the back of my mind all day while I think about it, improve upon it, change it, etc…
With my kids home from school in the midst of Covid, things with our schedule got a little wonky. But my one hour of writing never changed. It was my one constant and it made the uncertainty of everything a little more bearable to have some normalcy in my routine.
Trust me, there are days that I do not want to get out of bed. That’s why having an accountability partner is so important. I would hit my snooze or turn off my alarm and put my head under my pillow, only to hear my phone chime with a text once, twice, sometimes maybe even three times. Laurie has even called me to get me out of bed. I grumble about it but in the end, I’m glad she did it. Plus, it’s even better on those days when I get to return the favor ;)
The moral of this post is: get an accountability partner and set a writing intention before you write. It can be daily, it can be hourly, but by all means DO IT.