A few weeks ago I was going through containers in my office, and I decided to pull out all of my journals, morning pages and writing notebooks. When I was done, I was surrounded by no fewer than 40 various sized notebooks, plus another 30 or so “fit in your pocket” notebooks I habitually carry around. As I was thus surrounded my husband passed through the room. I looked up at him from where I was walled in and said “You know, I’m beginning to think that I’m a writer.”
For me being a writer is just part of who I am, and it comes across in how I choose to spend my leisure time, the obligations to other writers and writing groups I take on, and in my job. My obligations and feel-I-shoulds vary across this range, and I find that right now I am facing a great number of things that fall on my writing and writing related to-do list.
- Finish Minion Handbook
- Finish entries
- Create Table of Contents
- Add illustrations and maps
- Final edits
- Send to customer
- “Wedding” story – write first draft from outline (for online writing group)
- “Troubled Teen” story – figure out new ending (from short story intensive class)
- Outline “donor” story for new site with sister, presumedhuman.com
- Review & update outline for “fox boy” story; send outline to writing mentor
- Finalize new online writing group from Short Story Intensive class
- Prepare for “How to Critique” workshop with local writing group
- Prepare for “Critiquing our Critiques” session with online writing group
- Work with local writing group to set up spring writing retreat
- Follow up with “off line” critique group
- Beta read novel for author friend
- Write training course for Introduction to UF’s Institutional Repository
- Write presentation for USETDA conference (co-author)
Obviously these all have different levels of importance and time commitments, and they range in tasks from writing to reading, from creating PowerPoint Presentations to corresponding with group members.
All in all, I think I may have enough writing to keep me happy for a while 🙂