Thirty Minutes

As I performed my physical therapy exercises this morning, I listened to a podcast (yep, I'm a podcast junkie) called Magic Lessons.

Magic Lessons is a podcast hosted by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love.

She's also one of the most inspiring women I know, and she also wrote a book called Big Magic which is a deep dive into her favorite topic in the whole wide world (and mine). Creativity.

During the podcast, she said something to the effect of, "I'll take thirty minutes if that's all I have."

Most of us feel like we need to shut the door on the world if we're going to create something beautiful.

We need a cabin on a lake, gourmet meals miraculously left on our front porch so we can take a quick break to replenish the body, a soothing soundtrack ... you get the picture.

Today my writing time went something like this:

Open my document.

Stare at it a few minutes.

Read what I wrote yesterday.

Laugh and one particularly brilliant sentence.

Cringe at the next horrible sentence. (there are not enough red pens in the world, people.)

And ...

Get interrupted every five minutes by the smart, funny, talented Gary who fixes my husband's computers so he could set up my new iPhone.

Yep, the life of a writer is every bit as romantic as you thought.

All in all, I probably got thirty minutes of creation into the world today.

And you know what?

I'll take it.