PRIORITIES

The LDStorymakers, a writing group I belong to, sponsors a magnificent 3-day writers' conference in early May. It's a wonderful chance to hone skills, network, meet agents and publishers, be humbled by the talent of others, frolic amongst like-minded peers, meet readers, sign books, and otherwise revel in the joy of writing. I love those three days so much.

But this year I'm withdrawing my registration, passing my slot on to someone else, and taking a bye on the writing fun for something I love even more. Family life and needs are taking precedence.

Some of the agenda items taking priority are joyful things, and some are purely needful, and right now finding time to write at all is hard.

It's funny that at the very moment I have no time to write, my mind is filled with a dozen story lines I'm dying to put on paper, and three current projects are taunting me back to the keyboard. But they will have to wait.

Some will say that's unprofessional, but I was a mother and a daughter before I was a writer, and my days still hold only 24 hours no matter how hard I try to think otherwise.

I don't know what psychological profile renders a person incapable of doing something halfway, but that's my dilemma. I can't write "a little" without utter frustration. I either have to be immersed in my story for clear periods of time or I need to withdraw. Nor can I dabble happily in family life when needs require more than that. Actually, book things forced me to do that for too long, and that leaves me distracted and useless to everyone. I need to focus on one thing at a time, and right now that's family and family things.

So aside from a few blog posts and an occasional article for the Deseret News, I'm off the writing circuit for a few months. I'm going to promote Free Men and Dreamers during the interim, and I'm planning a trip to Palmyra to sign books at the Pageant. Other than that, I'm going to spend time with my mom, and I'm going to help my busy daughter with her new baby, and visit all my other grandchildren. I'm going to travel a bit with my husband and work on a new project together, I'm going to dig into my family history while those who remember it are still here with me, and then I'm going to tackle the removal of the remaining remnants of my 1980's-wallpapering frenzy.

So while I'll get back to writing soon, family life is good and busy here in Maryland. I hope it is where you are as well.