I cannot be the only person with this problem.

When I'm not able to work in my current manuscript (say, I'm at work or hanging with family or watching Friday Night Lights on Netflix streaming, which btw, is either the best or worst invention ever), I itch to get back to it. I think, "Man, if only I didn't have to do ____ today, I'd be glued to my desk chair writing, because I am so flipping excited about this one." Which is a great attitude!

But then the weekends come, and I sit down and start toiling on it, and I think, "Well, maybe I should go do those dishes first. And then of course I should Swiffer the floors while I'm at it. And I should really call my mom...and Skype my niece...and return those shoes..." And, and, and.

I'm a procrastinator by nature, and with a lot of dedicated effort, I've been able to curb those tendencies when I need to. (Say, when I had five weeks to crank out that book last fall, which I, amazingly, managed to do while still working full time.) But it is hard to curb them when I already have so little free time, and sometimes, I just want to crash on my couch with the latest Us Weekly and some popcorn and waste the day.

Today, however, I will not. (I mean, I probably will at some point for an hour or so. But I will also be productive!) I sent my current WIP out to my two critique partners as well as to my sister and my former mentee (who are pretty much my ideal readers, which every writer should have); they've all been so helpful with their feedback, but what's so exciting is how excited THEY all are about it. I am, too.

I just need to keep working on channeling that excitement into actually writing the rest of it.