When To Write by Emily Cotler

When To Write
By Emily Cotler

EMBW.jpg (3535 bytes) There is always something else that needs to be done. Always. I personally cannot write if my house is a mess. This is a particularly high roadblock since I am a champion clutterbug. Besides actual work deadlines, the laundry needs to be done, the cat needs brushing, a Julian Barnes novel beckons from my nightstand, I haven’t been to the gym in a week, my checkbook is off, my mother needs her swamp cooler cover put on and yadda yadda yadda.

When do I write? Sometimes never.

I have been writing seriously since 1993 and the only time I ever wrote anything worth reading was when I wrote regularly. It is such a basic premise I cannot even believe it warrants an article (albeit a short one — I just moved and boxes need unpacking, and I have to run to the store, and…). I have tried to convince myself that I will write regardless — in spite of life, as it were — but in reality I only think about writing unless I actually schedule it. So here I am, in a new home, in a new home office, setting up a new schedule. I will write if it kills me, which it may.

Tentatively I have decided to set aside the first thing in the morning time — six something to nine something, but (here I go setting up roadblocks) since I am on the west coast, by six something in the morning, New York has been at it for over an hour and I really should check in. Such is the fate of the freelance graphic designer.

Anne Lamott says in Bird By Bird that the secret to writing is to write. Diana Gabaldon’s three steps to good writing are: 1. Read. 2. Write. 3. Don’t Stop. Julia Quinn says “Well, it’s my job” and so she gets the writing done. I happen to know that she likes doing it an awful lot, so I am sure that that helps.

I like writing, too — when I am doing it. So I will. Do it, that is. Even if it means my boxes stay boxed a bit longer and New York has to wait an hour. I’ll brush the cat though. He keeps me company while I write.