What's the difference between 'take' and 'make' when it comes to our writing time?
Take seems to suggest, 'I'm gonna rip off this time, take it away from the time I am supposed to spend fixing dinner.'
Make is more like, 'I'm gonna make time while I'm fixing dinner. When the potatoes are boiling, I will sit down at the kitchen table with my notepad and write.'
Whether you take or make time to write, actually doing the writing is a challenge.
This leads on to one of the most basic questions, one that we'll deal with in my upcoming 'Feel the fear and write it anyway' workshop (which, by the way, is on Saturday 4 August here at my local Whangaparaoa Library, 10.30am - 1.30pm and you can register on my site. Will you take time, or make time to come?!! Either way, I hope to see you there).
That question is: do I really want to become a writer? How committed am I?
This is where that 'take' or 'make' comes in. If you're still undecided about your writing, you might take some time here and there; if you're serious, you'll make time.
Ah, it sounds like a big step, and it can be a fearsome one, fraught with perceived difficulties. The pathway to dreams often is. We hang in there though, we stick with the programme, we march onwards to the goal.
You'll have to come along to the workshop to learn more about overcoming those fears and our inherent ability to procrastinate ('Hmmm ... I don't feel like writing today, I'd rather clean the bathroom...') but I can leave you with a couple of suggestions ...
1. Look in the mirror and say, 'I am a writer.' How does that feel? Start to think of yourself as a writer. When I was younger, I used to see myself in a multi-million dollar beach house, flouncing about, words fluttering around me like butterflies. The reality of my old door-turned-into-a-writing-desk covered with the cat's hair is somewhat different but there's nothing wrong with aiming high.
2. Have a look at your daily schedule and 'make some time' to write; when is it possible? Maybe it's when you're boiling the potatoes, or in bed just before lights out.
So ... call yourself a writer. Do it now. Make time to write.