A couple of years ago, I participated in NaNoWriMo, a month-long writing event in November. NaNoWriMo is an acronym that stands for National Novel Writing Month. I’d heard about it and talked to writers who’d participated in the event, and in 2021, I pulled the trigger and participated, too. The contest’s purpose is to write every day – whether you feel like it or not– and by the end of the month, you will have produced a 50,000-word manuscript.

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It sounds daunting when you break it down because you’re required to write approximately 1,700 words each day. I attended a couple of webinars about it and joined an online group, and on November 1^st, I jumped in. The first day took me almost 4 hours to produce 1,700 words. I sat in my guest room with the door shut, the small bedside lamps on, and my laptop fired up and ready to go. I wanted to be excited, but the sheer volume of words spooked me. At least I had an outline, a concept, and some other materials to get me started on my book.

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My novel is a historical fiction-based story set in Roslyn, Washington, in 1881 during the coal mining days. My main characters are from Italy and have settled into the bustling and multicultural town of Roslyn. The husband is a coal miner, his wife is a seamstress, and they live with their little boy in a cabin on the edge of town.

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This was not exactly the story I’d intended to write, but some stories take on a life of their own and write themselves. Several months later, I read through my finished first draft manuscript, making changes and doing some copyediting. I noted places where I wanted to add more content, and I’ve decided that I’d like to revisit Roslyn to walk around the town and collect more visual descriptions. Last year, I even had my husband go with me with his nice camera to take photos of the cabin and church in my story. But since then, my manuscript has sat on my desk, patiently waiting for me to do all the other things that kept me from it.

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I took on a full-time job, continued to write for a monthly magazine, and worked with my writing group on publishing a book of memoir stories. And after that, I took a much-needed break. But my family and friends kept asking, “Where’s that other book?”

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“She’s resting,” I thought to myself. “And so am I.”

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I took a significant hiatus from all my writing. I stopped participating in writing contests, ignoring all the writing prompts I’d subscribed to via email, and I even broke my daily habit of writing my attitude of gratitude list every morning. There was no way I could muster the energy to tackle my historical fiction manuscript. I felt stuck, so I kind of just stopped writing altogether.

I told myself that I just needed a little time away from my writing, so I could come back refreshed and start again, so I subscribed to another writing prompt email that even included meditation. All I needed was my notebook and a pencil to make that work. But I couldn’t make the time for it. And it started to make me a little crazy.

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One morning, while in my kitchen, I thought of the word sabbatical. I read the definition: “A sabbatical is an extended period away from work. This time allows employees to travel and study outside their regular job roles to advance their careers.”

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Wow! That sounded honorable—time off to do something else away from the tasks at hand.

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I wrote that word on the whiteboard in my kitchen and reflected on it several times a day. There was no shame or guilt tied to taking a sabbatical. It was a time to relax, switch gears, and maybe not feel so discouraged.

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Recently, while listening to a podcast, I learned about a book called “The Compound Effect” by Darren Hardy. I checked it out as an audiobook from the library, and it talked about making a 1% change in any area of life to reap the rewards. I listened to the first two CDs while putting away laundry, and I heard the author offer simple tips on achieving success and living the life of my dreams. He outlined strategies to successfully and carefully direct my choices to shape my destiny positively. I felt a little surge of energy as I thought about writing for a living. Could that be part of my future?

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If I were willing to invest time and energy into my dream and take baby steps every day, I would be much farther ahead than doing nothing, worrying, guilt-tripping myself, or ignoring the situation entirely.

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So, the following day, I placed my notebook and pencil next to the massage chair, where I read my Bible every morning. Rather than scrolling online, I invest that early part of my day into my passion- my writing. And I have so many unused writing prompts sitting in my email inbox. Now, I open them, read them, and journal about them. And when I’m finished, I delete the digital prompt. Even though some of the prompts aren’t super exciting, they’re helping me build my writing back into my daily habit. And if I continue to invest 1% of my time and effort each day over time, I can only dream about what will happen next!