Recaffeinated Mondays: I Should Have Been Writing

Don’t laugh at the headline.

Here we are near the end of 2018, and I’m talking about all the writing that I should have done.

Now, let’s be clear. I haven’t been posting here regularly the last few weeks. I don’t know…something about a full time job and three, count ’em three, part-time jobs, made that a little difficult.

If you’ve followed me on social media (and you should, you know), you’ll recall that this fall I directed A Doublewide, Texas Christmas, at CAT Theatre. The show closed yesterday, and you regret not seeing it.

Yes, you do.

At the same time…the same time…I’ve been performing as Santa in Tinker’s Toy Factory at Kings Dominion’s Winterfest. You can still catch us nightly (except for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day) through New Year’s Eve.

And, you should.

So, when, you ask would the writer have been writing? That’s a good question.

Now, I have not been a total slacker. I have continued to write at least a thousand words daily. Those are just not (yet) words for public consumption. So, I’ve kept up the skills.

Unlike the path that I embarked upon last January, I have not blogged daily on my two blogs, plus the one I have parked for when the time is right. Nor have I successfully managed to retire from the day job by advancing my writing income.

And no, the novel is not finished.

But, I did finish the script, and Clean Dry Socks: Diary of a Doughboy premiered this past fall with River City Community Players.

It was not my intention for this post to become a list of why I’m not getting things done (you do recall my 2018 theme, right?). In reality, I’ve accomplished quite a bit. Just not everything that would have been on those early January lists.

That’s how life goes. We make our plans, and they get changed. So we move forward as we can.

Still, in all of this, I should have been writing more. I’ve spent all this time talking about how I’m a writer and establishing myself as such.

I’ve said to myself lately that “if I only had a laptop, I could do writing and graphic work remotely” Well, that’s true. But, it’s not a requirement. Sure it is for the graphics work because my iPad is an older model.

Have I mentioned lately that there’s a tip jar in the sidebar?

I digress.

The graphics work is yet another side job, but it’s not directly related to my writing.

I want a laptop so that I can write remotely. I don’t need a laptop to write remotely. The iPad works just fine.

Yes, before technology there was a certain thing called pen and paper. Have you seen my handwriting? Most days, I can’t even read it.

True story, or at least one that I made up in my memory. While my family doesn’t recall it this way, I “remember” being able to write my name as a child before I started school. My memory has me writing with my left hand, and it includes a first grade teacher that made be write with my right hand.

Maybe I made that up, but it’s the best excuse…er reason…I can come up with for a lifetime of illegible handwriting.

Again, I digress.

Where was I going with this post?

We’re here at the end of the year and while my daily agenda is still far too full, I’m looking to the future.

I have this dream of curling up in front of the TV on New Year’s morning to watch the Tournament of Roses Parade and to plan the perfect 2019.

Stop laughing.

I can’t plan the perfect schedule for the year. Okay, I can plan it and know that it will start changing almost immediately.

But, I can do a better job of planning times to write, and of using any “down time” I find along the way to do the same.

I’m not sure I’ll again attempt the early morning gym, then coffee shop to write, plan again. It was a good one while it lasted. But somehow, getting home from rehearsal after 11:00 at night made it very difficult to be up before 5:00 the next morning.

I think that my challenge comes because I’m a writer, but not just a writer.

I’m also an actor, a director, a producer, an artist, and a graphic designer.

Let’s not talk about the fact that I’m stuck in the day job for a few more years because I’m in debt up to my Aunt Fanny.

Yard? What yard?

See where I’m going with this?

Good, because I’m not sure that I do.

That’s not exactly true. Where I’m going with this is making a commitment, not a resolution, to find or make more time to write, and to use my “free” time wisely.

I can do this. No, I will do this.

And, if you’re lucky, I’ll stop by here to write about it.

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Cover Photo: flashlarevista.com

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