Just write.

Let me say that I have a lot going on right now.

I’m moving across country. AGAIN. (To be specific: from the Washington DC area to Boise, Idaho, because of my significant other’s job.)

There’s a lot of stuff to sort out related to my own 9-to-5 situation, to say the least.

There’s also the issue with my actual stuff. Some of it is sitting in a warehouse in Boise, waiting to be picked up, hauled to a rental and unpacked. Some of it is with me, a decent amount of which I need to donate. I will soon need to pack my car and prepare to schlep any remaining stuff to Boise. I will likely be contemplating minimalism between now and the point where all this stuff is dealt with and/or unpacked.

I need to plan this road trip to Boise. I need to schedule a major brake job before this road trip takes place. I need to confirm that my air conditioning is actually functioning (I had my doubts on this 90-degree day).

I need to continue to scour Craigslist in order to help my significant other find a place for us to live. I need to remind myself that our dog is adorbz, which is why it’s OK to deal with a significantly limited housing pool due to the fact that he’s a medium-sized dog and not a cat or a Chihuahua, two types of animals somehow more acceptable to have in a rental.

In the midst of all this, I recently decided to amp up my writing.

LOL.

Writing online is not a one-step process. There’s drafting, revising, posting, promoting, engaging with others, hobbling together some sort of strategy to get more people to read what I produce. These steps take time and energy that sometimes I just do not have.

So why am I doing it right now? Why don’t I wait until my life has settled down and I can actually focus?

Mostly because I’ve been putting this shit off for a long time. I used to write professionally, and now I don’t. I used to do a lot of creative writing, and now I don’t. I used to think my writing would provide meaning and structure but in the recent past, I lost this dream.

For me, starting to write again is like starting a business. And as many will tell you, there’s no better time to start a business than now: “You can wait yourself into old age and regret, but you don’t need to.”

So many excuses have validity – that I don’t have a well-established blog platform yet, that my time is limited, that I don’t have a real online network yet, that I’m not sure I’ve yet found my voice in this context, that I haven’t established a reputation yet to be published anywhere noteworthy – but how many times does the word “yet” appear in that little string of apprehension? Too many goddamn times.

How does one establish their platform? Mostly by writing.

How does one develop an online network? Mostly by writing.

How does one find his or her voice? Uh, by writing.

So in between bouts of self-doubt stemming from my next relocation, searching for housing, deciding what I’m going to do about paying the bills, I’m writing. It’s not always good, and not that many people are reading (except for you mom, hi!), but I’m doing it.

Writing isn’t going to happen if you don’t do it. A business isn’t going to happen if you don’t do it. A project isn’t going to wrap up unless you do it. Excuses only serve to delay what needs to be done: shit. Shit needs to be done. So just write.