March 15, 2013

Spring Writing - Tracy Krauss

Spring break starts tomorrow in our school district, and believe me, kids and teachers alike are ready for a reprieve! Unfortunately, the weather man didn't get the memo. It's been nothing but WINTER weather in the past few days. All the extra snow we've had lately will make the skiers, snowboarders and back country sledders happy, I'm sure. Fortunately for me, I have other plans that won't be affected by the inclement weather.

In my mind, March isn't really spring anyway, so why bother 'spring cleaning'? Instead, spring break from school means an opportunity to dig out some writing projects that I've set aside. I've got so many 'Works In Progress' that it might be hard to choose which one I want to focus on. Still, I plan to spend large portions of my day clacking away at the computer or even sitting with an old fashioned pen and my journal. Either way, I can hardly wait to let the words flow without worrying about the time.

My goal for this year has been to put my writing first over many of the promotional activities that seem to suck up so much of my time. 'Just Write' has been my motto - something I've been blogging about on my personal blog since January. While I've accomplished more in terms of word count than I normally would by this time in the year, it has still been a challenge to write creatively everyday.

Like anything worthwhile, it takes self discipline to write on a consistent basis when there are so many other things vying for one's attention. The 'lack of time' factor is mostly an excuse, I've found, since I can think of more than one occasion when I've sat down to watch TV for half an hour and it turned into three.The more consistent I am, however, the easier it is to 'just write' and skip the distractions. As many of you know, once a story gets going, its hard to stop writing, and when you visit that story on a daily basis, you soon find yourself waiting with anticipation for that precious time of day when you can get back to your story. It doesn't take much time to reacquaint yourself and get immersed once again, since it is still fresh in your mind. Also, practicing on a daily basis speeds up the process itself. I'm quite sure that I am writing more in less time and with a higher quality.

May I encourage you to dust off that writing project? Or, why not start a fresh new one? Either way, make it your habit to write everyday!

Tracy Krauss blogs at: 'Expression Express'
Website: tracykrauss.com


5 comments:

  1. Tracy, I so enjoyed your posting, and the reminder for me to keep doing what He's been telling me for a while... just write... which means letting go of all manner of other perfectly good things that don't fit in with His plans for me at this time.

    So thanks for the encouragement, the inspiration and the challenge.



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  2. A good reminder well said, Tracy. Thanks. Even retired from teaching, my life has many distractions, so I still need to pray and prioritize.

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  3. It is so easy to get distracted... We are very much like children in this regard, I think!

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  4. Tracy, I've been discovering how true this is too. It takes a lot of effort to discipline myself to sit at the computer, but it does get easier as I keep at it. Thanks for encouraging us!

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  5. Old Man Winter has decided he'll stick around awhile longer this year...

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