My, My, How Time Does Fly

by Tristi Pinkston

Our valiant and brave blog moderator, Rebecca, set up a reminder system for us so we'd all know when it was our turn to post here at Writing Fortress. I blog every other Wednesday, after a rather funny incident in which I stole Jillayne's spot and ... oh, wait, that was an un-funny. Sort of a thoughtless, rather. Anyway, I blog every other Wednesday, and I get my reminder on Sunday night.

This week, when my reminder hit my inbox, I blinked. Had it really been two weeks since I last posted? Where on earth did the time go? Between sickness and housework and children's birthdays and work, it all just zipped by, becoming somewhat of a Technicolor whirl. It blends into a mish-mash of chaos, with dirty dishes flying by (look out!) and laundry and the never-ending need for love and attention. Some nights, I crawl into bed knowing full well that absolutely nothing I did that day will still be done in the morning. It was all the never-done stuff - the cooking, the cleaning ... sigh.

But there are two things in my life that I can use as a ticker to show me if I'm making progress - if my children feel loved, and my word count.

Some days, I can only eek out a half sentence. Other days, I have more time and I get in over a thousand words. But regardless of the day's total, (and yes, I have days upon days where I write nothing) any increase is a sign of success. If I can open up my document and see that my word count has gone up by even one, I am a success as a writer. I have written.

Time does fly by, so fast. There's never enough of it to go around. Never enough to keep everything clean, everyone in matched socks (just don't take off their shoes) and to keep all the balls in the air, all the time. But if everyone got hugged, I'm a step ahead as a mother, and every single word written adds up to my success as a writer. No, I didn't write an entire novel today, but I don't have to. I wrote enough. I am a success.