In an ongoing effort to be accountable to myself I’ve decided to begin – yet again – writing each day on my blog, however to simplify things I’m going to follow a template. It may change from time to time, but basically the plan is to have an ongoing record of my fits and starts at establishing a solid (fiction) writing habit.

My day:

Woke up late…again…9:00. No client work today so not a big deal but it puts me off getting up later in the day. Funny. I used to be a night owl when I was a teenager, but after many years in the corporate world I’m a morning person now.

Not naturally one though…takes me a cup or two of coffee before the brain kicks into gear!

Today was house cleaning day. Takes me about three hours because we’ve got a big old Victorian that just takes time.

But that’s fine. I listen to something from Dan Duval at Brideministries.org and the time passes quickly.

The writing:

Did a little bit on the writing this morning, but since I woke up late didn’t really have time to work on it.

Topic of the day:

Practice.

As a flute player and singer in high school I had a lot of experience with practicing. Then when I went to college and was surrounded by lots of musicians who were much better than I ever thought of being I was intimidated.

I remember one music student in particular. Her name slips my mind, but I remember she had a lovely soprano voice. I wished I could sing as high as her, but alas I was more of a mezzo-soprano.

Now that I’m older I realize that her dedication to the art of singing (she was in the music performance program, I in the music education program) was greater than my own.

Why?

Because I had no idea what I wanted to do. The school councilor decided that since I’d spent so much time in music classes in high school that I should be a music education student.

Of course they neglected to notice that I also did quite well in my English, literature and history classes, yet made no recommendations to be an English or history major…

But I digress…the point is that this student was dedicated to doing whatever it took to become a better singer.

I, on the other hand, was simply taking classes because that’s what I felt I ought to do.

My heart wasn’t in it.

Since my heart wasn’t in it I felt no joy going into the tiny practice rooms.  In fact, I sloughed off much more than I should have, unfortunately wasting both my time and that of my professors.

If writing has captured your imagination, as it has mine, then you’ll put in the hard yards and practice.

Write story after story, year after year, taking joy in the telling of it, no matter who reads it.

No two persons are exact copies. God created each of us to be individuals.

For example, I can wish with all of my heart to write like C.S. Lewis, to bring stories to life like he did, but I’m not him.

I’m me. All I can do is to learn the craft and keep on practicing.

And since my heart is in it, I’ll continue to slip into my practice room every chance I can get!

How about you? Is your heart in the writing today?