Writing Through Life's Storms

This past week in East Central Illinois, we've had a bunch of thunderstorms. One minute it's sunny; the next, tornado sirens are going off, and lightning is shooting across the sky. Although these thunderstorms are usually easy for me to write through (unless the power goes off and I forgot to charge the battery on my laptop), it's life's storms that can make it tough to get any writing accomplished.

I have a few storms going on in my life right now--and I wouldn't say they are all the "bad" thunderstorm type. But they are at least strong wind storms--stirring up my usual routine and filling my mind with clutter. My husband found out last week that he will be transferred, and we have to report to our new city (St. Louis) by the end of September. Yes, that's fast when you have to sell a house. On top of that, I'm expecting a baby in December--which is another blessing, but of course, limits me on doing things like moving refrigerators. :) We are in the process of thinking about buying a new car because my husband's is about to die--any day--he said he thinks it is literally "falling apart." The list could go on and on, but I won't bore you with it. The point is: there's a lot going on, and it would be easy for me to move writing to the back burner.

But I'm not going to do that.

One is for financial reasons. With the three things I've mentioned above, we obviously are going to need as much income as we can get. But that's not the main reason.

It's because I am a writer. And writers write. It's what we do. It's what we have to do--no matter what is going on in the world--whether it's snowing or company is coming or babies are being born. I thought about how my husband isn't going to stop doing his job as we prepare to move. He's still going to the airport five days a week to control traffic. So, I shouldn't stop writing just because we have a few storms going on in our lives.

Will it be easy? No--some days, I may have to get up before the sun to get any writing in. Other days, I may have to write with a notebook and pen. But the important thing is that I don't stop writing. I plunge ahead through the wind and rain and emerge on the other side--still a writer.

post by Margo L. Dill, http://margodill.com/blog/
photo by Not So Nice Duck www.flickr.com