At my current stage of life, my creative writing has to be intentional.

I don’t mean that I am never inspired by a whim, never get the urge to write in the middle of a long drive, never burst into a flurry of prose. I mean that all my inspiration, writing urges, and flurry-bursting usually come to fruition at a prescribed time, because like most writers I have Other Things To Do. I have a full-time career that I enjoy and work hard at advancing. I have a husband I like to watch movies with and two beautiful little boys I like to play cars with. I have a home to maintain, half marathons to train for, groceries to buy, books to read…the list sometimes seems endless.

So, my writing is intentional. I carve out time at least a few days a week to write. Maybe it should be every day, but that’s just not realistic, so I try to get the most out of the time I do make for myself. It’s usually at night, after the boys are in bed, and I sit at my computer and do my best to wake up my Muse and let her know it’s time to get things done. Like Peter De Vries, I see to it that I’m inspired to write at a certain time (8 p.m., give or take a story time or kiss goodnight), and it may not be as often or for as long as I’d like, but it is something. And that’s better than nothing.