Finding Time to Write

By Rosemary Johnson, who, as ACW Competition Manager, reminds you of the ongoing ACW Journalism Competition, which is free to members.  More information on the ACW website.

• I was going to share with you that writing the novel I'm writing at the moment is one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done in my life, and explain why.
• I was going to to draft this post last Sunday, in Chelmsford, while I was waiting for the Chelmsford Cathedral services to start.  (My husband and the choir from our church in Earls Colne were leading the Cathedral services last Sunday, so I had a little time to kill while they rehearsed.)  I took my iPad into Starbucks, but I have to confess I worked on The Novel instead.  There were things I needed get in there, before I lost them.  In Starbucks, I felt comfortable, relaxed and able concentrate very well, despite loud conversations going on all around me.  I had access to toilets and wifi which worked and no members of staff hassled me, even though I purchased only one medium Americano and sat at my table for an hour and a half. 

• I was going to report back on what was on sale on the Chelmsford Cathedral Bookshop, and, in fact, I took a few photos of it, showing how tiny children’s booklets had pride of place (on the bottom shelf, where, perhaps, little hands can reach?)  One of my pics shows that our ACW president, Adrian Plass’s The Sacred Diary, as the most thumbed book.  Is this a compliment or not?  I was going to make a comment on how some customers use bookstalls as libraries, and to reference Lynda Alsford’s Facebook post about people expecting to receive a free copy of her book from her.  I also made a mental note to read Catherine Fox, whose books, on display in Chelmsford, have been recommended to me by an ACW member.

As you can see, Dear Reader, I haven’t developed any of these ideas.  Life has come in the way.  Over the last few days, I’ve been babysitting my grandchildren.  I was hoping for a quiet hour or two, during this week, to compose this post, but, here I am, writing it the day before my slot, while they’re at the swings… and we’re experiencing a power cut at home.

A few months ago, when I was whinging about not having enough time to write The Novel, a very good friend from ACW advised me to seize upon the short slots of time in my life – anywhere, anyhow - and use them to write.  I’m trying very hard to do this, and I'm making slow progress, which is better than no progress.  Baby steps.  Baby everything at the moment. 

…I'm here again, at twenty past nine, two and a half hours before this blog post is due.  I tried to complete it immediately after lunch, when the power came back on, but my computer froze and refused to do anything, so I got my granddaughter up from her nap, played with her and made both children’s tea.

As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans."  The fact is the other things we do in our lives matter just as much.  God’s plan is not necessarily our plan.

Rosemary Johnson has had many short stories published, in print and online, amongst other places, The Copperfield Review, Circa and Every Day Fiction. In real life, she is a part-time IT tutor, living in Suffolk with her husband and cat.  Her cat supports her writing by sitting on her keyboard and deleting large portions of text.