Flexibility

Last week I talked about my wonderful writing schedule. Then this week blew it out of the water.

Things have been crazy. I believe I've mentioned that my brother is moving. While this has been a gold mine for blog topics, it's wrecked havoc with my writing schedule.

Sigh.

This happens from time to time. Stuff happens. The writing has to be pushed aside for more immediate concerns. That is one of the reasons why I don't write every day anymore. So, while I have my preferred days for writing, some weeks I find that those days have to change. And some weeks the weekly goal can't be met.

I give myself a "forgiven" day once a month. That's a day I can miss the writing without piling on any guilt. I couldn't get to it, so I had to let it slide. I rarely invoke this rule, but it's in place for those weeks that just get away from me.

And then there's the extraordinary circumstances clause. (I don't have these written down anywhere, but maybe I should.) Whenever I have one of those events that has to take precedence over everything else (you know, the emergency situations), any writing not done is just forgiven. It has to be.

Last year, I took two weeks off because I was miserable sick. I didn't feel even a twinge of guilt for missing those days. I needed my rest, so I got it.

I hope to get caught up with my writing this week, but I have no idea if I will. I can only do so much, and once things get back to normal, I'll get back to my writing schedule.

What do you do when life gets in the way of your writing?