Writing Process or, Learning to Fall

My writing process parallels my skiing process.

I let the idea stew in my mind while I take the chair lift up the mountain.

I jump out, and start weaving down the mountain, maintaining good speed and control.

Then I think, what if? And I point my skis straight down the mountain and FLY.

And the flying is amazing.

Until I realize that I'm completely out of control. I freak out, scream down the rest of the slope, circle behind the weird red building at the bottom, and fall.

I lie in the snow, and consider why I (and my manuscript) wiped out.

And then I do it again.

The Dregs of the Day

I am fully immersed in the summer. The kids are home from school and I'm putting lots of energy into my day job--being a mother.

This relegates my writing to the dregs of the day.

Would I love to have it front and center and spend hours every day making my novel perfect? Yes.
Will that happen this summer? Probably not.

Does that mean that my goal of completed MG novel by September is shooting for the stars?
I don't know. What it means is that I have to transform the 'dregs of the day' into quality writing time.

And I have an ace up my sleeve, to keep me honest and on target with my goals. I'm starting a blog.

This way, my (ever changing) goals are somewhere, and I can stick to them (or change them to my heart's content). But they are going to be here, and not on index cards, littering my workspace.

I'll shoot for the stars. And if one of them falls, then all the better!