Seize the moment

Know the true value of time; snatch, seize and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness...never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. - Lord Chesterfield

I have a friend who says he doesn't have time to write though he enjoys discussing his writing ideas with me. He is a busy man. He has a family and a fulltime job and property that needs tended. But he also watches sports on television every weekend. He is nearly addicted to computer games and loves surfing the Net for news coverage.

I believe we find time for what we like. If something is important enough, we'll carve the time out of our calendars. But writing is hard. It's easier and usually more fun to sit around and talk about the art of writing and discuss plotlines and characters than to actually buckle down and get to work. So we put it off. We say someday. We'll wait until we're inspired. Let me tell you, you get inspired by doing something, not sitting around and thinking about it.

Once we finally realize the value of our time, often for many of us it is too late. While your life might seem like a long time in the midst of it, truly it is a blink of an eye. Before you know it, you'll look back and wonder what happened to all the years that transpired since you first said you were going to write a book.

How important is writing to you. Do you live it and breathe it and imagine conversations between your characters in your head? Can you picture them in your mind and walk down the same fictitious streets they walk?

If so, then don't put it off. Someday you'll be gone and your stories will be gone as well. The voices will be silenced. What a shame. Even if you only take a small step today, stop procrastinating! Write something.