Thank goodness for paid vacation time and Camp NaNoWriMo.

It’s been weeks since I’ve written a word. The last time I had a productive day of writing was February 2. Since then, progress has been minimal.

But this week, I have five days off work. Camp NaNoWriMo is underway. And I’ve got a goal to knock out 30,000 words. Whether or not that happens remains to be seen, but at this point any amount of writing will be a win.

The original timeline for “The Mountain of Dempsey Molehill” was to release this summer, but each deadline got delayed. From September to December, I told myself it was okay to put the book on hold because I was picking up six-day weeks and overtime at work. Then I told myself it was okay to skip writing sessions because the husband and I were house hunting – and currently in the middle of housebuying, and then moving.

I almost talked myself out of working on my book this week. I scheduled vacation time for the first week of April months ago, specifically to write during the first week of Camp NaNoWriMo. But with a pending move within the next month, I started to convince myself I need to spent the next five days packing boxes.

That’s when the voice in the back of my head started nagging.

“There’s always going to be a reason not to write,” it said. “It’s time to make time.”

So even though I should be packing this week (and hopefully I’ll get some packing done), the first order of business each day is writing.

I don’t have time to write, but this week I’m going to make time.