“To err is human. To blame it on somebody else is even more human.” — Arthur Bloch

Yeah, I’m blaming the salesman for our contractor for the problems meeting my word count yesterday. We did the final paperwork on our bathroom remodel and there have been…issues with him. Issues that left me with a great deal of anger and frustration, all of which made writing feel difficult. With a chunk of my mind occupied, I found it hard to get the words out and I know what wrote will definitely need revision.

There are so many things that can keep us from our writing, and this month is full of them, with a big one staring us in the face next Thursday. It’s not just November, though; there are constantly things which drag our attention away from the keyboard and our words. Most of us don’t have the luxury of writing full time. We carve out bits and pieces from the day, and if the day doesn’t go as we hoped or plan, it’s often the writing that suffers. And when it does, we have plenty of excuses. We’re exhausted from work, homework needs to be checked, there’s some emergency that requires our attention — or we really just want to binge watch something.

There are times when we cannot write, when other things truly need our attention. I don’t think anyone expects us to write in the middle of fresh grief, or when life is literally falling apart around you. But it’s too easy to let the little difficulties become large roadblocks, to give yourself the excuse to say “tomorrow.” Even if you can’t meet your whole goal, try to write something. Every word on the page is a word you didn’t have before, and if you write something on a day that’s bad, it’s easier to write something the next day.

Besides, if you really need to vent your frustrations, write that person into your story and do something dreadful to them. You can always edit it later.