Day 8 and still going strong (writing in the morning works SO much better for me!)…

I like to keep my options open, don’t you? It’s good to have options–it feels great to have the freedom to change direction, do different things, take a new job, etc. But I’m beginning to think that having options isn’t that great for me. In fact, it might be what’s keeping me from achieving my goals.

Right now, for example, I have lots of options. I could stay in my current job as a consultant for the federal government. The money’s good and will only get better, and I love my coworkers. Sure, the job is stressful, but I’m never bored. I could ask my consulting company for a new assignment with one of our other clients. It would be the same type of work, but with new faces and a change of scenery. I could decide to go back to working directly for the government–you can’t beat the job security! Or I could start looking for jobs in the private sector in a field I’ve worked in before (defense, international trade, or business consulting) or in an entirely new area. No matter which option I ultimately choose, I’ll always find a way to squeeze in some writing, right?

But what if I didn’t have any choice but to make a living through my writing? What if were on my own and I didn’t have a job–no other way of generating income but to write? How motivated and focused would I be? How committed would I be to producing the best work of my life, then tirelessly marketing it to get it published? Pretty damn committed.

I think there will come a time when I’m going to have to take away my options. (This is the part where my stomach starts to hurt and visions of poverty dance through my head.) That’s right, at some point, I’m going to have to quit working and write full-time. Because I’m married and something like this needs to be a joint decision, I’ll have to negotiate some conditions with my husband. I, for one, would like to have all of my credit cards and private student loans paid off before I quit, and I’d like to have a working draft of my novel. Once I’ve met those two conditions (as long as my hubby’s in agreement, and I’m confident that he will be), I’m going to resign.

And that’s not all–I need to set a concrete deadline. Otherwise, I could procrastinate on paying my bills and take my sweet-ass time putting together a draft and stretch this process out for ten years. Unacceptable. So on May 28, 2009 , I’m going to quit my job and either write full-time or take a job that allows me more time to write (part time or summers off).

God, that’s terrifying.

What about you? What options could you take away to force you to achieve your goals?

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