It was Friday night. My family’s traditional movie-night. Remington Steele was on the tv. One of my favorite old shows from the 80’s. I was exhausted from an exhausting day—a violin lesson, cleaning the house, fixing dinner. All I wanted was to curl up on the couch and let imaginary characters entertain me.

But. I had written exactly zero words. And I needed—badly—to get those words in. As I dragged myself up to the computer, I wondered why I was so resistant to writing.

I’m a writer. A writer is supposed to love writing. More than talking with people. More than tv shows. Words are therapeutic to us. They make our days happy.

But I was thinking of my writing session as something I had to do, rather than something I got to do. And so the excitement was quelled by an urge to watch tv.

Don’t think of writing as a duty or a box to check on the to-do list. Don’t pressure yourself needlessly. Writing is a privilege. And if you aren’t trying to be perfect, it’s relaxing.

I made myself some tea and headed to the computer. Plugging some ear buds in, I created an Amanda-bubble. Cranking out 1000 words with a tv running downstairs wasn’t fun or easy. But I can’t tell you how satisfying it was.