An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Regret

So, I’m writing a book. Yeah. Good times.

I do ask myself if I am crazy trying to do this with work, the kids, and trying to have a life at the same time. Seems crazy but I still feel compelled to plug away at it.

I am happy to report that it is coming along nicely. I have a good idea and have worked out my outline that I am now filling in every time I have a spare moment. I know it’s not ideal but it looks like (at least for the next month or two) that I’ll be stealing moments to write it. I’d much rather have solid blocks of time to devote to this project but that’s not going to happen just yet.

So, if this is really going to happen, I’m going to have to clear my plate of all extraneous distractions — like television, housework, and social media (okay, there will be some housework but not much). Basically, anything that is optional is now gone. There is no other way.

I just finished reading Steven Pressfield’s wonderful book, The War of Art and now I am completely inspired to not let my resistance get in the way of writing this book. There is never going to be a time when you “feel” like sitting down and writing — you just have to do it. I know this because I probably spent an extra year in graduate school because I procrastinated and resisted working on my dissertation.

At least this book is a lot less painful than my dissertation (on the Contextual Influences on the Pain Behaviour of Preterm and Full-Term Neonates) that I no longer had any interest in by the time it was near completion. Shudder.

No, I am much more interested in writing about anxiety and how to overcome it.  However, even though I love the topic and I regularly blog about it - it’s still hard.

I’m discovering that you have to be ruthless about how you spend your time when you want to get something big done that matters to you. I have no choice. I know that if I make excuses for myself (and as a working mom that would be really, really easy to do) I’ll regret not getting the @#&%ing thing written!

So, what are you not doing that you know you’ll regret later?