Persevere My Writer Friends

by Tammy Karasek @TickledPinkTam

I have spoken to writer friends since we turned our calendar page to 2022 about the ebb and flow of our writing lives. It’s no secret that we writers have word-filled days at our keyboards. But we never know when we’ll hit a day where we can’t string a coherent sentence together no matter how hard we try. 

Could I be the only one barely chugging along? Once I fessed up my issue to my writing crew, I found I wasn’t. We all struggled to get the momentum going for this year. 

One afternoon while praying for my writing friends, I was reminded of a serious situation this past fall in my writing and work. God had showed up and taught me I could actually take control of a writing problem and not let it be the boss of me. I’m not talking about issues out of my control, but those I do have control over … those I can find a work around option. 

What God taught me in September is that I might not have everything in its perfect place, as my perfectionistic personality would like, but I’m quite capable of adapting and getting things done. 

I’d gone to Colorado to work on my ninety-nine year old aunt’s estate. My first roadblock was the house where I’d be spending the next six weeks had no Internet. Gasp—I know, a house with no Internet. I did more than gasp. There may have been whining at this point. 

I could have taken a break or written in a notebook. Except my writing wasn’t even the point I was most concerned about. I have two virtual assistant jobs and run a launch team business. I couldn’t leave the two virtual assistant jobs, two authors smack dab in the middle of their book launches or the other author I was helping with their launch on the back burner for such a long extended time. 

If it wasn’t enough with no Internet and a full client load, my ten-year-old Mac Air had decided it didn’t want to do much. Limping along is an understatement. I didn’t have the time to shop for one in the middle of running all over Colorado Springs filing papers and seeing the attorney, accountant, selling her house and so much more. 

I’d love to say at this point during my morning peace-filled, quiet time with the Lord, He showed me the way out of my dilemma. But I would be lying to you. The truth is that it was more like a small, sigh—okay, large—temper tantrum at the kitchen table. No peace. No quiet. But He met me there in that hot mess and showed me where to start on my dilemma.

I packed up my tote filled with work and laptop and off I went to the local Panera. My first day or two there it went well. I realized I needed to go early to get one of the few electric outlets they had. If my timing was off by even fifteen minutes, the outlets were taken. One of the outlets had lost the switch plate cover and hung out of the wall, which oddly was waist high in the seat of the booth. 

I tried two other Panera spots that weren’t as close. They were larger and newer and I was excited. Bigger equals more outlets. Except the new or redesigned one have fewer outlets. When I asked the manager why no outlets, she laughed and said, “people come and work for hours and take up our tables for people who are actually buying food and eating.” She glanced at my bulging tote and I swear she laughed with the Cruella de Vil style cackle. 

I didn’t panic, I knew God was teaching me a lot on this trip already. I worked until my battery teased me of closing down my computer. Then packed to leave and sent up a very articulate prayer. Well, God. Now what? Help would be great. I’m here for another month and I’m up to my neck in time-sensitive work. I got nothin’, Lord. I seriously contemplated sending off emails to my clients and confess my failure. But, I couldn’t formulate the words nor did I have any power left on my computer. Truth.

Six weeks later, I left for home. Great news, no work was left undone. I was able to find the outlets at my original Panera as needed. Even if it was usually the one hanging out of the wall. I’d learned how to get my charger out of the socket without getting shocked too bad. Exciting times.

We writers can often convince ourselves we can’t accomplish writing today because of something blocking us. But when obstacles get thrown in the way of our writing, we need to learn to take a breath, assess the situation and look for ways to step around or over them. Options are there, we need to be determined to go get them. 

With that determination to find ways around the blocks and the perseverance to get those words on the page whether by keyboard or by longhand, you will find word count success, my dear writer friends. 

Now, go and write. 

TWEETABLE

Persevere My Writer Friends, encouragement from @TickledPinkTam on @EdieMelson (click to tweet)

Tammy Karasek uses humor and wit to bring joy and hope to every aspect in life. Her past, filled with bullying and criticism from family, drives her passion to encourage and inspire others and give them The Reason to smile. She’s gone from down and defeated to living a “Tickled Pink” life as she believes there’s always a giggle wanting to come out! 

She’s the Social Media Manager for the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference, Founding President and current Vice-President of ACFW Upstate SC, Founding President of Word Weavers Upstate SC. She’s a writing team member for The Write Conversation Blog, Novel Academy, and MBT Monday Devotions and others. Her work was published in a Divine Moments Compilation Book—Cool-inary Moments. When not writing Women’s Fiction and Rom-Com, she’s The Launch Team Geek helping authors launch their books and a Virtual Assistant for authors.

Connect with Tammy at HTTPS://WWW.TAMMYKARASEK.COM.