Never Enough Time, or I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

Welcome to Pontifications of a Dishwasher. 

This is going to be a weekly blog about whatever I’m thinking about.  I chose to name it Pontifications of a Dishwasher, because, 1.  I’m a dishwasher, and 2. Pontifications is the most pretentious title I could come up with.  So, that covers two sides of my personality.  We’ll get into more sides the deeper we go, whether willingly, or unwillingly.  Things tend to seep out that way.

Now, the main reason for this blog is a personal one.  It’s a weekly writing exercise for me.  I have always written fiction, but this is a way to stretch beyond that, and to train myself to write, even when I don’t feel like writing, to meet my weekly goal.  There’s no word count here, there’s no theme beyond the weekly article, at least, not yet. But like everything else in life, that could change. 

It’s also a way to gauge my attempt at writing non-fiction.  I’ll delve into some personal stuff, my evolution as a writer, some origin stories, and see what happens.  It’s a grand experiment, and I hope you come along.

And so, here it goes, my first Pontification….

NEVER ENOUGH TIME (or, I’LL SLEEP WHEN I’M DEAD)

I get hung up a lot, as we all do, with not having enough time in the day.  I wake up early, start my day with a shower, coffee and cigarette, and then sit down to write.  If I’m lucky, I get a couple hours in before I go work at the deli, where I wash dishes and grill sandwiches for five hours, six days a week.  When I’m done with the deli, I come home, wash the grease off, and write some more, or get down to editing.  

That’s the ideal situation, anyway.  It doesn’t always work out.  Sometimes real life gets in the way, and I put aside writing the pages of fiction and handle business, whether it’s family, friends, financial, or what have you.  There’s just no way around somethings.  We all have obligations and people we don’t want to let down. 

And, let’s face it, for an unpublished writer, or one who has very few credits to their name, it’s awful hard to tell someone, “I can’t do that right, now.  I’m working.”

“Working?  On what?”

“On my writing!”

See what kind of face you get for that one. 

It’s a broad statement, and I’m being unfair to a lot of people here.  Most of my friends and family are very supportive of what I do, but that’s how I feel when faced with the decision to drop my pen, and go help mom with something she needs done, or my buddy wants to go get a drink.  Pick your battles.  If you really want to write, you’ll make time for it. 

I’m not going to let myself off the hook here, either.  Writing is hard.  At least for me it is.  It’s easy to become distracted.  To find any reason at all to not write.  To say, “well, that’s half a paragraph.  Better go do these dishes, or vacuum the floor, or stare at the wall…” or “all right, let’s go get that drink.”

It’s hard to get your mind and body motivated to sit down and write the disorganized ideas floating around in your head.  Or, make your head have ideas.  They’re not always there, you know. You can’t just reach out and grab them. Sometimes you force it with brute strength.  And unless you’ve been training, working at it every day, it can be a monumental task.   Hold on, I’ve got to go have a smoke…

See?  Easily distracted.

It’s easy to blame life and other people for lack of time, but it’s really on me.  Or you, if you’re working on something, whether it be writing, painting, or working out to get that killer bod.   I enjoy helping mom.  I enjoy spending time with friends.  Hell, I enjoy making money and working odd jobs.  But these are all facets of life I can incorporate into my passion for writing, and when I do get that time alone to make it happen, I try to really make it happen.  To get all I can out of that time.  Because time is valuable.  It’s the most valuable commodity we have, as human beings.  There’s no way to get it back, and when it’s gone, it’s gone for good.

And what are passions good for if we can’t share them, anyway?  They become hollow, empty things.  I mean, maybe you have some secret passion you’ve never told anyone about.  Maybe, you really want to be a clothing designer or decorate cupcakes with hotdog shavings.  Think of how great it would be to reveal that passion to people you care about.  To live that passion.  To have them enjoy your hotdog decorated cupcake, and see them smile when you say, “I made this!”

 It means so much more when you share it with other people.     

So, keep working at it, whatever it is.  You know it’s a passion when it’s hard to find time to do it, yet you strive to do it anyway.  If it’s something that keeps you going, keeps you stable, you’ll find the time to do it.  You’ll work at it, and when you accomplish it, it’ll be that much more fulfilling.

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