‘A writer writes, always.’

I remember that line from the movie ‘Throw Momma From the Train’. The main character, played by Billy Crystal, is a struggling writer who teaches a creative writing class on the side. The above line was the mantra of his writing class, and has become my mantra as well. Whenever I think ‘What am I supposed to do today?’ the thought always comes back to ‘A writer writes, always.’

But when I tried to sit down and work without a guideline of what is ‘always’, it was never enough. I would work and work until I couldn’t give anymore and then I would leave the work untouched for days at a time. Almost in childish defiance. As if the work had taken so much out of me, I refused to give it any more of myself.

So, in order to keep working without the…