Adjusting Sails

A Monday Musing for March 17, 2025

So, I know I was pretty ambitious with my writing and posting schedule as I entered this new phase of my writing life. I had “committed” to posting something each weekday: blog-type thing on Monday, poem on Tuesday, novel chapter on Wednesday, writing assignment piece on Thursday, and short story on Friday. It’s a lot. In retrospect, I attacked this the same way I attacked my freshman year of college when I thought “Hey, I can do 18 credits and have 8 am Biology Monday, Wednesday, Friday! I can DO IT!!!”

NARRATOR: He could not, in fact, do it.

I ended my first semester with a 1.97 GPA and a very serious discussion with my father that if that did not change in the second semester that returning home was going to be the only option. It changed. I never had anything less than a 3.8 for the rest of my college career. But I digress.

My point is, I tried to do too much and all of my work ended up suffering for it. So I am going to scale back slightly in my weekly output, and am giving myself permission to make further adjustments as we go. I am no longer going to post the Writing Excuses assignments. I may still do them, but they are for me and my own internal work. Most of them involve taking an existing piece and rewriting it in a different way, and those are not things I am going to share. They may become part of the final book!

The Monday Musings (like this one) will happen when I can make them. As the spirit moves, as they say. I still want to do at least a poem, short story, and chapter each week. I really enjoy all of those and feel like they help me grow as a writer and let me play in a few different sandboxes. I hope everyone is enjoying them as well.

It is Spring Break week for the students and educators in my family, so my opportunity to write this week will be scarce. I am going to try to keep on top of it, but there is a lot of coming and going around here. That is another piece that I have to give myself leeway with: life happening. I do not live a stay-still and uncomplicated life (that is not a complaint, in case you were concerned), and I am often required - by work or by family - to alter my schedule or location at the drop of a hat, which of course impacts my usual writing time. And so we adjust our sails, tack where we must, jibe where we can, and weather the moments of being becalmed.

Now… bring me that horizon.