Writing. What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing and can you eliminate it?

In 2010, I said everything. In 2015, I said fear. In 2016, I said that it’s sitting down and doing it.
In 2017, I said that it was work. In 2018, I said that it was lack of support. In 2019, it really was the lack of accountability. In 2020, I said that it was about losing my creative space to WFH, but it really was about setting time for it. In 2021, I said that it was work. In 2022, I said that it was the way I used my free time.

This year, it was interestingly this desire that I didn’t want to spend money on extra things. Not on classes. No on workshops. Not on things. I wanted to keep it minimal, because at the time, I didn’t see how the other things helped me.

But that also meant that I was more stagnant (my sad little one word!) in my writing. I wanted to do more, but felt a bit paralyzed by various little anxieties. And then the worst always happens: social comparison. It’s not social comparison held me back, but it made me envious. I would see someone get accepted into a workshop/fellowship, published in a literary journal, repped by an agent, and that rare occasion, sold and published. What about me?

I wonder from time to time, what if I did spend a little? But I have this problem where I am cynical. I don’t like the people. I don’t like the instructor. And I am back where I started, maybe I shouldn’t have tried, maybe I shouldn’t have gone. Yet, when I created the small spaces, as they say with intentionality, I am always surprised by the comfort and connection I have.

People believe in me, mostly because I asked for it. And when I am believed, it matters so much to me.