John & Kate Plus 8 -- Too Many?

The media is having a field day with the couple of the hit reality show, John and Kate Plus 8. According to various TV shows and magazines, the couple is having major marital problems, and the entire world is watching their lives unravel before our eyes.

In two words, I would say, "Too many." Of course I don't mean too many kids! People have had multiples for years and their marriages survived some of the toughest times. For John and Kate, too many eyes are watching them, too much exposure for the family, and too many people's opinions are being made about their lifestyle. These things can cause stress on the marriage and they threaten to tear a family apart.

Writer, do you have too much going on in your life? Are these things preventing you from writing effective information? Do you find it hard to complete your writing projects because of so many distractions?

What are some things you can and should eliminate in order to focus your mind, heart, and keyboard on getting back to the basics of writing? Below you'll find some things you can eliminate from your "hectic" schedule:

• Watching reruns of your favorite show
• Searching the Internet for hours on unnecessary information
• Watching soap operas and reality shows
• Taking long naps
• Talking on the phone for long periods of time

While these things may be difficult to break away from, doing it can give you the exact time you need to refocus and get back on track with your writing!

Don't Divorce Your Writing

To me, marriage between a man and woman is one of the greatest institutions God created. Although the media tries to downplay the value and benefits of marriage through soap operas, sitcoms, and movies, marriage does work. However, even when you marry the right person, the ups and downs of life can threaten to steal the love and romance from your relationship.

Writing is similar to marriage. You make a choice of what type of genre you want to write. You become excited and fall in love with your writing. As with marriage, you also find yourself committing your time and effort to it on a consistent basis. But eventually, your writing takes a pitfall. People become discouraging, you hit rejection city, sickness may come, or your schedule may become more hectic. You begin to lose motivation and the romance you once had with your writing begins to fade.

What happened? Will you ever restore your passion for writing or will you chuck your writing up as a hobby and push your well-crafted words under your bed to collect dust?

Wait! Before you completely shut your writing dreams away, pull yourself together and renew your passion and romance for writing. How?

• Remind yourself of why you loved writing in the first place
• Recommit yourself to writing
• Write a recommitment statement for your writing, and include 3 writing goals
• Recite it everyday
• Take action and work on one of your goals by writing for at least 10-15 minutes everyday

While your love for writing will seem to fade, you can renew it by refocusing and writing again. Refuse to divorce your writing!