Musings of a Punk Rock Father

So I had joined a 28 Day Blogging Challenge that was started on Twitter, by Scott Bishop.  He made a resolution to blog everday in the month of February.  I joined the challenge a few days ago, and already failed by my 7th day.

My biggest reason for accepting the challenge was because I love writing.  I just do not do it enough.  Or at all.  My life is so busy, so full, that I do not have time to sit and write.  I thought that if I publicly stated I would blog every day for 28 straight days, then I would be more likely to follow through.

It is crazy how much noise there is in the world, and how hard it is to sit down and write.  I thought I could do it early in the morning, before anyone wakes up.  But it seems that I have a difficult time waking up before everyone else wakes up.  The kids are usually up by 6:30, and I do not see any cicumstances (short of a 4 am earthquake) that would have me awake and alert before that.

Maybe I could write at night, after the kids go to bed.  Except that there is that pretty box of light beaming CNN, Comedy Central and (I loathe to admit) Fox News into our family room.  Even though there is probably only 23 worthwhile minutes of television each night, I manage to sit through a few hours' worth.  And even if I am not engrossed in some partisan bickering on a "news" channel, I am folding laundry, or emptying the dishwasher, or finding something else to occupy my attention.

So, maybe lunchtime is the best writing time!  Except that I am a business owner, and business doesn't get done unless I do it.  And business won't wait for my munch hour to conclude.  I rarely take a proper lunch break.  And if I do take a lunch break of any sort, it is usually at a networking event, where I am really working anyway.  There is too much e-mail, phone calls, walk-in customers, and any number of other distractions to keep me from writing anything during the workday.

So when am I supposed to write?  Well, I just need to make time.  There are all kinds of things I need to make time for.  I need to make time with my kids, otherwise I would never have a chance to play games with them and find out what they had done that day.  I need to make time with my wife, in order to communicate with her, and find out what her needs are, and how her day has gone.  I need to make time for God, to figure out how to rest in His presence during all the hectic hours of the day.

So I should also make time to write.