As I mentioned in last week’s post, I’m back after a long absence. In short, a long list of factors, including moving halfway across the state, downsizing, and starting a new career, culminated in me tabling writing for some time. I thought it would be a good idea to write a post about how I re-evaluated my life and got it back on track so that I could write again.

A big factor in my hiatus was the move. We packed up a three bedroom house, moved it five hours away, and had to downsize into the equivalent of a one-bedroom apartment. It was a huge change, in size, climate, and routine. My horse moved from a barn where I did full care to a barn where full care is done by the barn itself. My dog and cats came with me to my new home, but had to integrate with other animals owned by my roommates. My fiance and I both stopped and started jobs, and our schedules completely shifted, minimizing our time to spend together. Everything changed.

And so, writing was put on hold for the months of September and October in preparation for the move. We were in the new place by the end of October, but still unpacking when NaNoWriMo hit. (If you don’t know, National Novel Writing Month occurs every November.)

Instead of being wise and skipping NaNo in favor of a liesurely month of unpacking, starting my new job, and settling into new routines, I jumped right in. I couldn’t just not do NaNo! I participate every year, and besides, this year the winner t-shirt was especially adorable, and I didn’t want to miss out.

So I did what any totally insane person would do and wrote 50,000 words in a month (after months of not writing) while also unpacking, learning my new job, navigating new routines, and dealing with the holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas, I’m looking at you).

It was perhaps the best decision I ever made.

In all the hectic whirlwind my life had become, writing was my stable place, my rock, and if I hadn’t participated, I wouldn’t have written at all, which would have surely left me more insane than when I’d started.

So, here are my tips to Re-Evaluating your life as a writer when things have changed:

– First thing’s first: set a new routine! And most importantly, work writing into it!

– Prioritize. If you’ve got other tasks that make writing hard, get one or two of those out of the way before you sit down to write so when you do, you don’t feel guilty about it.

– Give yourself time to relax—what this means is, don’t count writing as relaxation, because it’s not. Give yourself a break from everything as often as you can.

– Look around at your new life and find inspiration. When things change, so does your writing, and that’s a good thing!

– Lastly: cut yourself some slack. If you miss writing one day or your routine falls apart for a week, that’s okay. There’s always tomorrow to start again.

I’m still unpacking, and that’s okay. I’m just taking things one box, one word, one day at a time.

(But I did win NaNo and grab some winner goodies! That’s all that matters, right?)

Thanks for reading,

– Ember