Just 6 Words, Eh?

I am in the early stages of my career as a university professor. Needless to say, I am in a constant struggle to find time to write. Writing for at least 15 minutes every day was my New Year's Resolution! I blew it during the first week! However, rather than giving up, I modified. Writing regularly is my new New Year's Resolution and I submitted it retroactively to December 31st. I accepted a writing buddy to help me stay accountable. She shared a great post with me about how to become a regular writer. It was post #661 from Tomorrow's Professor. I was totally excited about getting started. Then, I got sick. So, I blew the next two weeks being sick and trying to recover but I haven't given up, yet.

Last weekend, I went thoroughly through my schedule and planned that I would be better off writing in the morning. I am NOT a morning person and I AM an extrovert. So, I reasoned that I would be more likely to get 'into' my writing in the morning because I am less extroverted in the morning. It seemed reasonable. On Monday morning last week, I arranged my new schedule at work and asked for my appointments to be moved to the afternoons so that my mornings would be open. On Tuesday, the Dean asked me to help with a few "other duties as determined by the Dean." Well, so much for last week.

Now, it's Monday again. I had big plans for this morning. I had a great sleep - a full 8 hours. I got ready and came to work. All morning, person after person flowed through my office. And, you guessed it, I didn't do any writing! At lunch when I was reading through my email, I noticed an email from a colleague who had sent it for "late January inspiration!" Inspiration was just what I needed so I followed the link to a blog post by Margaret Andrews that was entitled "Six Words to Boost Your Creativity." In the post, the author explains that to think creatively you just need to think differently and then goes on to suggest that one way to think differently is by putting your thoughts into six words. Of course, I seized the moment! Six words! I CAN write six words.

So, it is STILL Monday at lunch and I am keeping my writing resolution by writing six words. I have 10 minutes left until my lunch break is over and I'm going to try to squeeze out six words to describe my January experience:

Ahhh! January's frustration: many writer's blocks.

I'm going to consider that my daily 15. I have big plans for February!