This is what my husband and I call our “busy season.” Starting at the end of April there is a big family event every week until the 4^th of July. There are always the birthdays and mother’s day and father’s day, but every year finds a wedding, shower (baby or bridal), or graduation to attend besides everything else. It’s exciting, but it makes it near impossible to catch up on sleep, relax, run errands, or even contemplate anything creative.

But today I said, “No, I’m gonna get the creative done.”

I spent the day updating my website. My house is a wreck, but my website has a fresh coat of paint. I made mistakes in the update (oops!) and lost some of my hard work from my old site. But no use crying over lost data, right?

Over the last year I’ve worked hard to create a social media presence as a writer. My twitter has grown strong and my Facebook and Instagram are still chugging down the track. I haven’t been super at keeping up with my blog, but I find my way back every so often, so I think I deserve points for that.

The biggest thing that has suffered over the last year has been my writing. When I’ve been stupid busy and I’ve still stayed active on twitter, I haven’t been writing. Poor health and life shattering events like the Camp Fire made me feel writing was the last thing I could do.

Still, between all the madness, I started a few new projects. I just haven’t finished anything besides a couple short story entries.

So why blog about this? I guess because I don’t like answering the questions, “How’s your writing going?” or “When’s the next book coming out?”

When I’ve been too ill to write, I feel like my body is betraying me. When I’m too overwhelmed by stress to write, I feel like I’m letting folks down. When I’m badgered about my progress it doesn’t inspire me to write, it makes me feel defensive and like I’d rather not talk to anyone. I WANT to write. Sometimes life makes it tough.

I realized that I was most successful at reaching my writing goals and deadlines when I didn’t also have the pressure to create so much content for social media. I asked myself the other day, “Would you rather maintain a strong social media presence or write more books?”

Duh. More books.

So I will probably take a bigger step away from social media. Get back on my writing schedule. Also turn my phone off more again. It’s funny how the anticipation of a phone call or a text or a Snapchat message can keep you from being productive in your writing. If the phone is off, then it’s just me and my laptop.

If it’s just me and my laptop… I’ll be writing again. Even in the middle of our “busy season.”