Writing reflections: choosing to write every day

I am sitting here drafting this post on a Friday night. This has been a long and totally crazy week at work, and add to that my toddler decided to start shrieking instead of simply saying "no" when he doesn't want to do something. Would I rather be doing something else? Maybe watching TV while eating ice cream? Yes.

Sometimes I have to force myself to do the things that I enjoy the most.

This might not make sense to everyone. If you enjoy doing something, don't you want to do it all the time? Well, yes and no.

I love my non-writing job, but there are days that I kind of don't want to be there, for whatever reason. So it makes sense that there are days I don't want to be an indie writer, either, even though I am totally obsessed with this crazy world I've stumbled into. And any parent can tell you that despite loving their kids 150%, there are days you don't want to be a parent.

The parent job is the only one I can't really ever choose not to do. While it often feels like I don't have a choice for the other two jobs, I really do. I wake up every day and choose to go to the office. Then I come home and I choose to sit down and write words, research marketing, read and comment on posts, and all the other things an indie author does besides write. Most days, I enjoy doing it all.

Some days, however, I just don't want to. There may not be a specific reason (though usually it has to do with how much sleep I've gotten). I am starting to realize and accept that I don't have to like doing something every single second of every day to continue doing it.

If something hasn't been enjoyable for a long period of time, then yes, by all means, you should probably stop. Except the parenting thing, which is a lifetime gig and unfortunately involves never-ending periods of not-so-enjoyable moments (for example, we are potty training right now and I hate everything and everybody).

For my other jobs, a day here or there that sucks doesn't mean I need to stop. However, does that mean I should only do it when I feel like it? No. I need to do it even when it's hard, even when I don't feel like it, and even when I'm tired. Though there is a difference between lazy tired and "everyone in the house has the flu" tired, so knowing when to give yourself a break is important, too.

I always have a choice. By choosing to do it when it's not as fun, I'm gaining the skills and discipline to make it more fun in the long run. A good parallel is things like running and playing an instrument (I played the flute for a long time). The more I forced myself through the hard workouts and practices, the better I got and the more enjoyable they became.

Tonight, I am definitely lazy tired. But I am battling through it, knowing every hour I spend on writing instead of on Netflix means an hour closer to my goals.

And guess what? You can eat ice cream while you write, too!