Writing Balance in the Seasons of Life by Carol Harrison

Photo by Carol Harrison

I am in a season of life where it should not be difficult to find balance between time for writing and obligations of daily life. I have no small children. Grandchildren are mostly adults with their own busy lives, so I am not fortunate enough to have to babysit or even get to hang out often with them any more. Amee can do many things for herself and even helps me around the house. I have no spouse to devote time and attention to. I’m not leading a ladies’ Bible study or doing much speaking. Basic daily chores don’t take heaps of time.

So why then, with all the time now available for writing, does it feel like a winter season of dormancy? Now, when juggling many balls is not part of the equation, balance should be easy. But maybe that is part of the problem. I have too much time and it is easy to procrastinate; easy to be lulled into complacency; easy to get lost in the pages of a book; easy to not bother picking up my pen or sitting at my computer. Excuses run rampant through my mind, skittering here and there like a mouse darting from one place to another.

As I look back to other seasons of life where more writing happened, I had great encouragement or even sometimes nagging to go and get writing from my husband. I also realize, for me, deadlines helped me carve out time to write – even self-imposed deadlines. Yet, procrastination still lurked, making me leave things until deadlines loomed larger. Maybe if I set myself some deadlines or booked appointments for my writing time that I honored faithfully, I might find the words and ideas begin to flow again. Maybe then the winter season of writing would give way to spring. Ideas could begin to bloom; words could grow into paragraphs and finished pieces. Spring would be a season of time for writing after the winter of rest and learning. Now to quit procrastinating and follow through on picking up my pen or sitting at my computer. It is a matter of trying to write until ideas begin to germinate. To everything there is a season.

Carol Harrison writes from her home in Saskatoon. She loves stories and often gets lost in the pages of a book instead of writing or even doing daily chores, procrastinating too many things.


Profile photo by Bruce Guenter