Does Life Interfere with Writing or Vice Versa?

[Peg Herring]

It seems like I never have enough time to write. Things crop up, things I want to do or have to do, things that seem like they will not take long but somehow soak up a whole day. Certainly I can't complain about my husband saying, "Let's go out to lunch," or my friend calling to say we should visit another friend whose husband died. Life is life, and it makes its demands.

It's just that I always feel like I should be getting it on paper, making the story better, becoming the writer I want to be. It's a great feeling, actually, because I have goals, lots of them, but it's also a little creepy to see everyone around me as a character and every situation as a possible plotline. Whatever I do when life says, "Get away from that computer" comes back as story material when I return to it. If I were my friends and family, I'd be nervous.