No Excuses

I hear it all the time, and not just from would-be writers, but from would-be potters and artists and gardeners, and well, from just about everybody who claims to want to do something he or she isn’t doing.  “I just don’t have the time.  But someday, when I do have the time, I’ll write (or paint, or make pots, or grow my own vegetables).”

Bullshit.

We make time for what we want to do.  Funny, I rarely hear people say they don’t have time to watch TV, or have sex, or post on Facebook, or eat ice cream.  Somehow they find time in their busy lives for those activities. But when it comes to creating something of value, something lasting, suddenly
there isn’t time.

Is Dancing with the Stars more important than writing that novel you’ve been talking about for 10 years?  Is what’s happening in twitterverse more important than the half finished canvas in your garage?  Is sex or ice cream more important than… OK, so maybe you could make a case for the importance of sex and ice cream.  (But you could always make time for artistic pursuits by eating your ice cream and having sex simultaneously.  Just a suggestion.)

Tell me how hard writing is, or tell me it hurts too much to do it, or tell me you’re tired of being rejected, or that your butt is tired of being planted in the desk chair.  But DO NOT tell me you don’t have time.  Everyone can find an hour somewhere in the day to do something important.  Get up earlier. Stay up later.  Turn off the TV. Get off the internet.  Get off the phone.

And if you don’t make time for it, don’t talk about it.  Don’t whine about how busy you are.  Everyone in this world is busy.  The people who create are the ones who really care enough to make time to do it, regardless of the sacrifices.  Either you want it badly enough or you don’t.

My writing motto is “no excuses.” I don’t accept them from myself, and I don’t accept them from others.  So beware.  If you tell me you will write one day when you have time, all you’re going to get from me is “Bullshit.”