In December, I retired from my day job with a boutique consulting firm where I’d enjoyed working for many years. My intention was to focus on writing new novels as well as continuing to lead the Atlanta Writers Club (AWC) as its executive director. The AWC has always been a fulltime job as well, one I’d like to do until either death or senility reduces my effectiveness. 😉

During the month of January, however, I’ve allowed myself precious little time to write even though I really need to get new books on the market. My last one came out in 2022, and I miss the daily tussling with words, characters, and story. I thought I’d now have all the time in the world to write, but I’m battling the beast known as procrastination.

There’s a comment you hear from many retirees: “I’m so busy, I don’t know how I ever had time to work.” It’s true in my case because I make it true. The AWC job pretty much takes up as much time each day, weekends included, as I’m willing to give it. There’s always a new program we’re launching, always more questions to answer or situations to address from members, always some way to help someone. My wife—Georgia Author of the Year Kim Conrey and AWC VP of Operations—tells me I have a problem not curtailing the hours I devote to that work. As ever, she is correct.

I have difficulty declaring I’ve done enough for one day. And days in front of my laptop tend to become evenings there too. Not working on the new novel, mind you, but writing countless emails, updating websites, applying for grants, drafting or editing program proposals, and more. And when I get up the next morning, there are a half-dozen messages from night owls with questions, requests, or problems. And the cycle begins anew in a way that feels alarmingly like Sisyphus and his boulder.

But I know what this really is. The AWC job is totally manageable—I’ve done some variation of it for more than 20 years, first as a volunteer and now as a paid employee. What it gives me, though, is cover: an excuse NOT to write.

Why would I procrastinate when I willingly cut our household income by 60% to give myself time to do something I’ve loved since I was six years old? Why won’t I get out of my own way?

In his brilliant book, The War of Art, Steven Pressfield describes this self-sabotage as “resistance,” an internal force that prevents us from doing creative work. His solution is to be a professional who shows up every day to write, treating one’s craft as a job and thus developing creative discipline. Sit down and, rather than waiting for inspiration to strike, start stringing one word after another until a scene takes shape and then a full chapter. And keep going.

So I really still have two full-time jobs: my paid work for the AWC and writing my next book.

Plus add book signings to the mix. To supplement my AWC salary, I’ve been setting up at various Kroger supermarkets around north metro Atlanta and selling books there under a program I’ve written about previously. I’ll sell a few books per hour while I’m at my little table and, during the downtime when customers aren’t walking in or aren’t interested in my wares, I’ve actually been writing. I appreciate the irony of this—the only time I’ve allowed myself to write something new is while I’m sitting there trying to pitch something old. In an East Cobb Kroger last week, besides writing a scene for a new cozy mystery, I even composed the first draft of this very blogpost.

I know what my problem is, and I know the solution. I just have to do the work. Maybe you have something like that in your own life. If you want to be accountability partners, I invite you to email me periodically and ask me how the new book is coming along. And I will ask whether you, too, are doing the work. Together, we’ll achieve our goals!