Many months ago I downloaded a book to my Kindle (I still love my Kindle!)

          “Do the Work” by Steven Pressfield was one of those books whose message slipped into my consciousness almost unnoticed. When I read the book, I was struck by the truths and insights presented. I purposed to utilize some of them in my own life. Soon after reading the book, though, I forgot all about it.

          Or so it seemed. True, the book itself rarely entered my conscious awareness. There were countless times, though, that the truths presented in this book have popped into my mind. It was only recently (as in when I was searching for a topic for this blog) that I even remembered reading this book. (Another reason I love my Kindle. Searching for a book, whose title and author I couldn’t remember, was made much easier because of the list of books in my Kindle’s archive.)

          “Do the Work” is meant to instruct and encourage the reader to Do. It doesn’t matter what that reader wants to do. Just that he do it. That he reaches for the dream, attempts the task, refuses to be diverted or discouraged.

          I don’t remember what is in the entire book. Just that it was good. Looking at the first page, I’m reminded of the forces arrayed against the Doer. Resistance is my focus today. (I might reread this book and talk more about the other enemies and allies of the Doer in the coming weeks.)

          Resistance, according to Steven Pressfield, can be anything which keeps the Doer from Doing. Fear, self-doubt, procrastination, addiction, timidity, and more. Anything that attempts to distract and derail us from our Doing is probably Resistance. As the author points out, whenever we attempt anything that has the potential to change our lives for the good, Resistance goes to work. When we resolve to quit an addiction or start a new project, take a class or paint the house, get married, eat healthy or anything else that will improve our lives, Resistance gets busy. Resistance tries to distract, discourage or derail.

          This truth burrowed itself into my subconscious mind and changed my perceptions. Resistance will occur whenever I attempt to better myself. Just knowing that anything I do to better myself will meet with resistance has helped me to weather those Resistance Winds.

          In addition, knowing this fact has acted as a red warning flag. If an action I’m attempting is met with resistance, I immediately take notice. (Well, okay, maybe not immediately, but almost.). That Resistance is a clue that what I’m attempting is worthwhile. Knowing that gives me the impetus to ignore, push past or all out fight the Resistance.

          So the next time you come up against Resistance, of any kind, take a good look. It just might be the enemy of your Doing.

Hi friends! No writerly news for you this week. I’m spending time with my mom as she approaches perhaps her last days in the hospital. We’ll see what God’s plan is for her. This past week has been more of a blessing to me than I ever expected, and I can see it’s been a blessing for Mom, too. I’ve written a bit more personal note on my Kitty Bucholtz, Author web site if you want to take a look. I’ll write more about this journey over there in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, I’ll see how much of the Self-Publishers Online Conference (which starts today) that I can attend from the hospital and give you the highlights next week or the week after. I may be late with my post next week for the same reason I’m late this week. We’ll see. I can’t say I’m all too worried about my productivity as a writer this week. But I do wonder if the words will start pouring out geyser-style when this is over.

I try to be professional here and not push people’s buttons by talking too much about God and how very much He impacts my life. But I’m breaking that rule now. I’ve never felt so surrounded by love and mercy the way I have this last week. And that’s why I know God isn’t a figment of our imagination, or an all-powerful but distant higher power. How can people love like this on their own? How can perfect strangers be so full of compassion and mercy by themselves without it coming from somewhere? I don’t believe it’s possible. Even if you don’t believe in God, you can still feel Him all around you if you have felt the love and care of other people for you. Pay attention this week and see if you agree.

All I know is that no matter how great an imagination I have as a novelist, I can’t make up the kind of peace I feel, even as I approach saying goodbye to my mother. It’s coming from outside of myself. And I don’t believe “the world” is capable of giving people this kind of deep peace. It’s God, and the only reason I can imagine He would do it is because He must love us. And that is really, really good news.

I hope you have good news this week. I’ll talk to you again soon!

For the past two years I have been the proud mother of a talkative and rambunctious daughter. Some people ask me how I can take care of her all day and still manage to get so much writing done. For the past two weeks I have also been the mother of a precious and hungry newborn. Some people ask me how I can get back to writing again so quickly. I don’t know if I have an answer to these questions that will work for everyone but I do have an answer that works for me.

Being a mom to two kids under two years old while running a business, running a household and running circles around my dreams means most of my days are spent juggling. While in the middle of making breakfast, I’ll get a phone call, which will lead me to writing something down so I can make another phone call in between flipping eggs and pouring milk into a sippy cup. Then it’s in and out of the shower while I deal with toddler tantrums and try to keep her from tearing the house apart. I brush my teeth as I make the bed. Almost every hour of every day sees a task on each hand while balancing another on one foot.

But I can’t do that with writing.

I’ve tried, trust me. It’s in my nature to try to accomplish as much as possible in the shortest amount of time but writing isn’t something I can rush through and still feel like I’ve accomplished something. Switching back and forth between writing and other tasks leaves my writing feeling flat and me feeling unsatisfied. Writing replenishes me, but not when I don’t give it my all.

The answer for me is focus.

Uninterrupted time is hard to come by as a mom but I work hard to create it when I can. That’s why I work so hard the rest of the day. My other mom friends can’t understand why I live on such a strict schedule but I know what I want out of my days. I want to be a mom and a writer. So I work doubly hard in the morning so that when the afternoon rolls around and my girls go to sleep, I can use that time to write. To focus.

Today, after nineteen days straight without so much as a bathroom break from mom duty, my husband watched the girls while I got out of the house and you know what I used that time for. I parked my Mom-mobile at the park, sat in the passenger seat and typed with abandon on my laptop. And nothing else. I didn’t have to play mommy or clean house, I didn’t hang out online, I didn’t take phone calls. For that hour, I focused on my writing and penned 2,000 words. Talk about replenishing!

It isn’t easy to get the time to dedicate to my writing but hey, that’s life. Just like anything else that’s important, we have to fight for that time and when we get it, we have to take full advantage of it. Set aside all the other “to dos”, all the other worries, all the other distractions…and focus.

That’s what works for me.

Photo by John Loo