Ways I make myself write (when I don't feel like writing)

Writers love writing. That's why we become writers. But even people who love writing sometimes find it hard to sit down and write. Why is that?

Sometimes the question is carving out the actual time to write. In that case, time management is the answer. (Here's one resource on the subject I really like.) 

But sometimes you have the time, and just don’t want to do it. Here’s how I make myself start typing anyway.

1) I look to the future. I’ll get up at six, say, and sit myself down in front of the computer. There’s my Word document, but there’s the Internet, looking all tempting. So I’ll look at the clock and I’ll say, “Jess, in an hour, everyone else is going to be awake. So, then, at seven, when the kids start drifting down, what do you want to have done? At seven’o’clock, are you going to wish you had an hour of writing to look back on?” The answer is always yes. I always wish I could look back and see time well-spent. Thinking about

what I want to look back on, rather than what I want to do right now, always helps me see the big picture.

2) I look at it as work. Writing is weird in that, until you get established, you’re not getting paid. You put in the time, but there’s no paycheck. Of course, if you get published, you get your money. Retroactively, it all becomes paid time. But until then, it can feel a lot more like a hobby than a job. So, feeling like it’s a hobby, you feel like it ought to be fun. But often, it’s not.

            You know what it actually feels like? Work. And you know what? Good. It is work. So I give myself permission to think of it as work. Then, weirdly, I’m okay if it feels like work. It takes the pressure off. I don’t have to like it; I just have to do it. It’s work. And I know how to work. So all of the sudden I’m not in a foreign country. I work all day, why should this be any different?

            Reframing it as work makes me really productive.

And then, weirdly, once I've given myself permission to not have fun . . . I start having fun again. Weird, right?    (No, I know, it's not weird at all. Isn't that the way this kind of thing always works?)


Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Weekend Links: Easter, Feminism, and more!

"The City Podcast: How to Go from Fasting to Feasting": I really enjoyed this particular podcast about the start of Easter - and about the real meaning of Easter.

"Next Year in Jerusalem":

But for us kids, there was no incongruity: Growing up Hebrew Catholics just meant having much more FUN on Easter than anyone else. My Christian friends wore straw hats, ate jelly beans, and maybe dyed eggs if their mothers could abide the mess. We, on the other hand, whooped it up for an entire weekend as we prepared for and celebrated the Passover seder, the ceremonial feast which Jesus ate with his disciples at the Last Supper. At our seder, which we held on Holy Saturday, there was chanting and clapping, giggling over the mysterious and grisly ceremonial roasted egg and horseradish root, glass after glass of terrible, irresistible sweet wine, special silver and china that only saw the light of day once a year, pillows for the chairs so we could “recline,” and the almost unbearable sweetness as the youngest child asked, “Why is this night different from all other nights?”

"Yes, we still need feminism":

This is why we need feminism. Because someone needs to fight back, to tell these people, men and women: STOP. This is not what women are for. This is now how it’s supposed to go. This is not how life gets carried on. This is no life, for women or for men.

"What You Can Learn from Calvin and Hobbes about the Message and the Medium":

Bill Watterson undertook a number of worthy crusades during the decade in which he made comic strip history –what fan of the Sunday Comics section can forget his epic battle to get the funnies printed at a decent size?– and he railed against “the cheapening of the comics” on a number of fronts. But it was his decision not to extract his characters from their natural setting and transfer them to “bedsheets and boxer shorts” that provides us all with an unforgettable living parable of artistic integrity.

Finally, I love this video about bullet journaling. It's such a cool concept - I'm going to start trying it this week!

a summer fit for a child

The last of the June gloom is hanging around on this, the first of July, and I'm grateful. I know it's going to disappear soon.

And I'm facing the beginning of summer, with all four kids home, and I've been thinking about what will make our summer days together good.

I came up with three categories of Good Things:
1) stuff that's Good For the Kids
2) stuff that's Good For Me.
3) stuff that's Good For Our Home.

We need all three to have good summer days at home, days that flow, days that nourish, days that are full of activity and peace. (Activity AND peace! I think it took having kids to make me realize how necessary those things are to each other!)

Here are the first few thoughts I have on those three categories - I'd love to hear what you'd add!

Stuff that's good for the kids:
-outside, active time. Preferably during the cooler parts of the day!
-quiet reading time.
-out-loud reads with me.
-Bible memorization (Grandma's providing some incentives for this for them this summer - so cool!)
-a "fun" activity a day: I'm thinking baking together, art projects, science experiments, etc.

Stuff that's good for me:
-devotions. Including prayer and Bible memorization.
-working out. Because it's just good.
-writing time. Which means the kids get some TV and video game time every day. Which is good for them . . . because that uninterrupted writing time is good for me, and it's in their best interests to have a happy mom! :)

Stuff that's good for the house:
-a regular morning sweep of chores - at least a few minutes per room.
-starting dinner prep in the morning
-regular Picking Up of the Toys by the kids - preferably just before transitions to official Fun Stuff or meals - those being the carrot to urge them towards cleanliness and godliness.


Given those pieces, I've together a skeleton of a schedule - a basic How To Have A Good Summer Day plan. It'll shift day-to-day, as we have errands or visits or appointments . . . but I like having a starting point.

I'd love to hear what works for you - what you'd add to the list in your home. I'm sure I'm missing something - but that's the good thing about this sort of plan: it's always up for revision. :)

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Links - writing schedules, parenting, and more!

"A day in the life of EE {daily routines, systems and time management for my life as a writer}" - I love posts about how other writers and moms schedule their days, and this is a really good one, partly just because it's so honest about the cost.

"How Star Trek Deep Space Nine Helped Invent Everything You Love":

It seems like a weird thing to mention now, because every random cop show or space adventure has storylines that carry on from episode to episode, more like serialized novels than collections of self-contained stories. But back when Deep Space Nine started, the idea of following "arcs," especially ones that went on for more than one season, was still more unusual on TV. For a Star Trek show, especially, it was considered weird to have so many continuing storylines.

"Never Again Hate Self Promotion":

It comes down to how you look at business as a whole. Businesses exist to provide people with something of value. If you take your business seriously, and run it with integrity, then you are doing something good for the world. There is no shame in telling people about it.

"Here We Are":

Sometimes, we just have to acknowledge that life has its indisputable stinkiness, and that our own stupid choices, or our own stupid fates, have made it impossible to have what is clearly superior. But sometimes, we end up open being grateful for our failures, because it make one thing really clear: we're not here to be particular kinds of parents. We're here to be the parents of particular kids.