Outside Factors

I’ve purposely kept out all other aspects of my life from this project (written in a blog, I’m not sure if this really should be called a documentary). But there are several things besides my writing ability and work ethic that will help determine the outcome of this effort.

I purchased an older house a few years back. Beyond the normal issues that older house bring with them, the house had not been given regular maintenance for a number of years. I’ve also been working to convert the basements and kitchen spaces into rooms that look nice (as opposed to old and depressing). This has required the majority of my free time.

My wife is in graduate school and working full time, so I’ve taken on most of the joint tasks. I’m also studying for a series of exams that will benefit my professional (completely unrelated to writing) career.

Each hour that I am not at work then becomes a precious thing. Three major tasks, now, take up most of my time: studying, working on the house, and writing. Along with that are everything that comes up with life. It had become very easy lately to not work on the book.

Then there are occasions when I have no confidence in the book, so it almost makes sense for me not to write the thing. It would be very easy just to give up on the whole project. The one reason I haven’t done so is that I have a closet full of unfinished projects and I’m tired of wondering if I could ever be anything. So I keep plugging away.