September is moving month for my husband and I. We aren’t moving far from our current location (only a mile or so), but it is still a pain and a great distraction. All writers face challenges to their focused writing time. For some it’s raising children, while for others it’s taking care of aging parents. For a few writers they get hit with both of those of those at the same time. Then there is the big challenges like an illness that takes away your stamina, or one that provides chronic pain. There are those who lose homes to disaster (floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, fire). And, unfortunately, many people also face death in their family and all that entails.
Like any other profession, when a challenge arises it is bound to make a change in one’s spirit. Everyone faces their challenge differently. Some people leave the profession for a period of time until life gets back on track, and some leave the profession all together. Other writers actually do more writing when life is full of challenges. It is the writing that helps them to get through it. And then there are all kinds of people in between.
I have always used my challenges to write. My books reflect people making heroic choices in the face of life challenges. Though the circumstances of the story may not exactly reflect challenges from my life, they do reflect challenges I’ve experienced either personally or through others close to me. I write those stories–often in the midst of challenge–because I can control the outcome. There is something empowering in writing an ending that has my characters moving forward and not devastated by the pain they have faced. It’s almost as if I’m working through it myself and having written it, I can now face it too.
For now, my moving challenge is somewhat mundane. It is physically taxing because one thing that comes with getting older is not having the strength I did 40+ years ago. It is mentally challenging because moving a household (even a mile) requires contacting countless services and people to get them changed to a new location. I’m sure I will forget some of them and make up for it later. As for writing, I’ve given myself permission to not be a stickler for my weekly word count goals. I don’t need that extra pressure. I’ll still get some words in during September, but I’m not going to obsess over it.
Then, of course, there are those reminders that my life is really pretty amazing. Between disasters and economics many people don’t have homes to go to at all. There are people all around the world who aren’t sure when there next meal is coming or if they will get drinking water today. I am very blessed indeed not to have those worries. September may be few words, but watch out October!
Here are some pics of my helpers in the move. They need better training in packing, but they do keep me smiling and sometimes laughing at their antics.
Layla determining if the box is an appropriate size for the next packing job.
Kali now trying out box size while Layla wishes to see if both will fit.
Moving is hard work. We need to rest before tackling it again.
