Top 10

Top 10 reasons to write fiction today:
1. Writing makes me feel more normal.
2. It soothes stress.
3. I can create a fictional story about my real life that I could never tell in the real world.
4. It cleans some of the gunk out.
5. I get to make up characters' names.
6. I can kill off characters, make romance, take a trip, or create other crazy situations that would otherwise get me in trouble in the real world. 
7. I create a puzzle of characters, plot, point of view, setting, and everything to form something wonderful.
8. I control everything--in the real world, I don't control much of anything.
9. Antagonists are so much fun to create.
10. Getting it out is so much better than keeping it in.

Top 10 reasons I could procrastinate today:
1. I need to find a better job.
2. The refrigerator needs cleaning.
3. I'm only forty pages into 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and I could read today.
4. I need to do more research on this project (yes, Randy, this one is for you).
5. It's a nice day outside.  
6. Online puzzle games.
7. Laundry?
8. Revising versus new writing versus waiting for feedback?  What do I do?
9. Maybe I could learn to knit.
10. Self-doubt: what am I doing anyway?  No one will read what I write, and it's probably poor quality anyway.  What is the point?

So many distractions.  In the end, sometimes I procrastinate more than I write, but most days, I write.  Today, I will finish this blog, apply for a few jobs, go for a run, and then get down to the business I really love--you know, contrive some romance and create some antagonism and work on revisions.  

And I tell myself it will be worthy of being read someday.