I’m a writer, but I’m not just a writer.

I thought when I sold my business I would be a full-time writer. I pictured my self in my pajamas with my coffee cup each morning. I would get up, get my coffee and “go to the office.” It would be my “job.” 

That didn’t happen.

First of all, there are way too many distractions at home. Like the television. And there were chores that needed done, like laundry and bathrooms and dishes. I was home now, why shouldn’t I do them? I mean, how would it look to my husband if he came home and had to wash his own undies when I didn’t have a “job,” when I was home all day. So, that was the first distraction.

Then, there was the Internet. I would sincerely click on the web to do a little research for my book or check on a grammar rule, but then I’d get sidetracked and find myself on all these other sites.

Then there were people. Knowing I no longer had a “job,” I became the go-to person when people needed something in the middle of the day. I have difficulty saying “no,” despite my lecturing for others to.

But none of this was the big problem. Not really. Let’s face it, I can turn off the telly, be more disciplined on the web, and ignore the phone and doorbell. The problem really was that I began to lose touch with the things that inspired me to write in the first place. I no longer had moments where I left a situation inspired and motivated to tell the story. I had no story. People write about their experiences; who wants to read about an aspiring writer sitting at home all day hoping the words will trickle from the brain and roll thunderously from the fingertips and onto the page? No one, that’s who.

So, after approximately seven months of attempting to be a full time writer, it occurs to me I need to live. I need to multitask to work more efficiently. Prior to “giving it all up” to be a full time writer, I was a business owner, a part time newspaper reporter AND an aspiring writer. I wrote more then. Somehow. I don’t know how that works. But it works that way.

So, here I go. This struggling writer is off to find her next big adventure.