I am not a writer who feels guilty about not writing every day.

I used to be. When I first started out. I read that advice about writing every day and, “gift and talented” Millennial that I am, I took it to heart as a RULE that needed to be followed lest I fail to achieve all of my VERY BIG GOALS. This rammed right up against the brick wall of my life. Most specifically, it rammed headlong into motherhood, the greatest creative venture of my life. I ended up just being grumpy and not writing a lot.

I’m not sure when I started to let all of that go. I just remember that one day I didn’t write and embraced the parenting instead and felt better. My practice changed. It got better. Stories were written in their good time, stories were completed, stories were submitted. My kiddos got older. All was well.

Just when I started to find momentum for my practice, I answered the call to serve my community. Where motherhood was a brick wall, public service was an acid bath. There was no starting new stories during that time. I revised and pushed work out for submission and took some classes. I even did some querying (because I’m a glutton for punishment) but I could not start anything new. And that sucked, because I could see the glimmer of cool ideas and could not act on them. And I became grumpy and resentful.

I spent the last six months doing all the things that needed to be done. I packed up my family and moved. These last few months, we started putting down new roots in familiar soil, building a different life, listening to myself and enjoying very good stories.

And here in this fresh new year, there is time now. Time to pick up my regular practice again.

To be clear, I’ve been writing. A lot. A whole notebook full, actually. I realized that last week when I picked up the notebook and found less pages to fill than I thought! What’s different now is the intention and the energy. There are goals, there are markets I want to submit to, there is a novel that I have been writing in my head and am itching to get onto paper… and there are half-done stories that I want to finish and get out into the world.

I am excited to be an active and practicing writer again. Picking up where I left off. That won’t be writing every day–because I learned my lesson, and I’m still a mother with mothering things to do. But I’m no longer stealing snatches of time whenever they avail themselves. The time is declared now. And protected. Cherished as never before. I am really grateful to have a fireplace in the house, which lends helpful warmth and lovely ambiance!

And blogging, too, which I used to do often and look forward to getting back to. So expect shorter stretches between posts.

I would love to know what your writing practice is and how you are declaring your intention for writing and storytelling in this new year. There is a lot that’s precious and to appreciate, despite the swirling angry energy. What are you returning to these days? What do you appreciate more than ever? How do you think that will reflect in your work?