The writing honeymoon is over - or is it?

Over the years - no decades - I’ve struggled to find enough of the right kind of time to write. I’m writing this on the train on my morning commute.

I work full time in a very demanding federal law-enforcement environment and with budget cuts and hiring freezes, those demands seem to be increasing constantly. I’m also actively involved with a number of veteran organizations, and there is the Love Is Murder Conference - and if you don’t know about this conference by now, you should.

Oh, and I teach part-time.

I’ve completed a novel, a screenplay and numerous shorter works of fiction. I’m also near completion on a number of non-fiction works related to tax advice and guidance for writers.

So, I AM writing.

I’ve submitted and been rejected, pitched my work then chickened out on sending it again.

I’ve noticed lately that most of my writing time has been spent on outlining and starting new ideas. I’m back to that!

I had promised myself after getting my daughter moved north for grad school that I would finally be able to complete those many projects begging to be completed. But, I distracted myself with the many things around the house that need to be done, my dog who just turned eighteen, my elderly friend who’s being scammed, and now my garden. I’ve been doing more and more home repairs lately and proud of the professional results.

I know all the right and write things to do to fix this situation with my writing but I think I’ve discovered something about myself. I love the romance of my honeymoon phase of writing.

Yes - honeymoon phase! That’s where I get to experience again and again the adrenaline rush of thinking in my head with new ideas followed by the excitement of writing them down and seeing them play out in my head like a movie. I’m great a visualizing scenes - now if someone could just develop an implant with a USB port so I could have these scenes recorded directly to my laptop.

As I said, I know the right and the write thing to do because I’ve done it with my completed, then submitted, then rejected novel, as well as a screenplay and short stories. I just don’t enjoy the part of writing where I have to do all the hard work of submitting and facing rejection.

The prospects that ventures such as Amazon Create Space and Barnes and Noble’s PubIt! offer are enticing and I definitely have plans to investigate those prospects, but the bottom line when it comes to writing regardless the path you choose is - Writing is really hard work!