Just Show Up

I spent a few days this week away. My own private writer's retreat. Worked on some poems for the Southern Breeze Poetry Workshop in June. Roughed out a proposal for a second devo book for my publisher in Scotland. Then finally forced myself to sit down and work on the elephant in the room. The WIP that desperately needs finishing. I've only rewritten the darn thing five or six times already. Tried picture book format, tried third person narration, tried first person narration. Tried present tense instead of past. Chunked it all and started over as straight nonfiction. Finally found my stride. It feels right. That's a good feeling.

I kept telling myself, "You just have to show up. Sit down and write, and eventually you'll figure it out."

Just show up. I can't remember which prolific writer said that was the secret to his success. Someone we would probably all recognize.

So, I'm trying to show up. And perhaps seeing some progress.

And learning that music "does" help with the creative process. I never was allowed to have music playing when I did homework, so I never learned to work with noise in the background. My totally awesome critique partner burned me a CD of opera. And lo and behold, I can work with music in the background if I can't understand the words. I discovered that Gregorian chants work pretty well, too.