“Blame the Internet, Cable TV, and and and . . .”  

                                      

 

            Before these came into my life, I wrote 5 novels in about 3 years.  I worked night and day.  I cried with my characters and even killed one of them then cried about that.  My husband simply said, “You created him, you can bring him back.”  Well, somewhere along the way I’d lost the original pages.  Sure, I could, and did, rewrite and bring him back, but my memory says the original was best. This happened to another novel too. 

 

          I wrote these stories on a memory typewriter.  For you who are unfamiliar with these, you typed in the information then hit a key that printed it out.  You had to insert each piece of paper to get it typed.  Today the process is so easy yet I haven’t written a thing.  As most writers know, any excuse will do to keep you from facing the blank page, but I have fully written manuscripts that just need to be read and refreshed.  I did get one of the five novels to Amazon’s Kindle and CreateSpace: Lily’s War, A Novel.  Why can’t I do it again?

 

          So, I’m back to the beginning—the blame game.  The Internet has been marvelous for so many things, including my favorite part of writing—research—but it’s the devil for distractions.  The same goes for cable television.  I love history and mystery programs.  I love decorating and house hunting programs.  I guess I could find anything to keep me away from the writing I need to do.  Even reading can be a diversion—and one I justify.  I’m a writer and need to read, I tell my husband. 

 

          Then I add that I have so many ideas for writing projects—both fiction and nonfiction—that I get frustrated and put off doing any of them.  I pride myself on not blaming others for my faults and mistakes so all of these distractions and excuses are mine and mine alone, but that doesn’t help the situation.  Am I fighting a losing battle?

 

          Perhaps if you, dear reader, promise to come back and check on me, I’ll get to work.  Let’s see if that works.