A post by Amy over at the Writer’s Group blog echoed a lot of what I’ve been thinking lately…the need to write now vs. languishing in laziness thinking I’ll eventually write a book, eventually sell one, etcetera. When I turned 36 I realized that the first third of my life is pretty much water under the bridge. I don’t want the next 2/3 to be the same.

Amy’s blog talks about how:

Time is not on our side. Each passing day takes with it an opportunity. The chance to be or become or strive for a life that currently exists only within our imaginations; that chance to become our true selves slips away by degrees with each sunset.

I’ve been keeping similar things in mind as I falter in my writing lately. On the days when I don’t get much done, I do berate myself a little, because I too am realizing that each passing day means a missed opportunity. I don’t want to miss these opportunities. I want to use the talents I’ve been given as a writer, whether or not anyone every buys a book. I want to say that I wrote, that I tried and then if I publish, that will be the blessed icing on the cake, the ultimate prize for which I will always strive. Every time I start to get a little lazy I remind myself that I don’t have all kinds of time–that I need to take hold of the here and now and get cranking.

One book that I’ve picked up and have been reading to help push me along is Spunk & Bite, by Arthur Plotnik, which is one of the best writing books I’ve bought in a long while. I snapped it up in Vegas since I had nearly finished The Emperor’s Children and I knew I would need something else to read on the plane on the way home. Definitely check it out–it’s full of helpful advice for the modern writer. Plotnik looks at both pitfalls to avoid and trends of which to take advantage. Reading after the Messud book was especially enlightening. She’s a masterful writer and in reading Spunk & Bite, I could easily make connections to determine why she is so successful and at the same time figure out how to use those tools to my own benefit. Plus Plotnik’s style is witty, engaging and accessible, which I find is often lacking in books on writing instruction.

So get thee in front of a blank page and start writing. That’s where I’m headed.