When Writing Plans Go Sideways or Nowhere

While I would never describe myself as an optimist, I must be because, in addition to gardening, I write. 

Back in 2024, when Labor of Love: A Literary Mama Staff Anthology was published, I wrote a blog post about having a fire lit under me as a result of writing a piece that was selected for the project. That fire was fueling me to write more and send out feelers for publication. 

What was a small blaze in 2024 is now a sputtering and smoking twig in 2026.

Life has, as it does for so many mama writers, gotten the best of me at the moment. I had a new prep for a class I taught this past school year, and while I always think I’ll spend more time in the summer planning, I don’t. I spent hours and hours of my life in a vehicle supervising my youngest child’s driving practice to and from school. The conditions were not conducive to sustained reflective thought or writing practice. 

I could give myself grief because I didn’t prioritize my writing, but that won’t bear any fruit. I could look at my already packed schedule and try to squeeze in pockets of writing space, but that seems too stressful. 

For now, I’m letting it go because my inner writing driver isn’t shrieking at me to get this or that down on paper, which is what I experienced when I wrote “The Things This Mother Carries” for the anthology. The idea for that essay just kept swirling in my brain so I wrote it down to give myself peace.

I have to believe that beneath that twig are embers that will remain hot and can be rekindled when inspiration hits. 

When has your writing enthusiasm sputtered out? Did you fight it or give in? How did you know when it was time to start back up?