Being an artist, writer, creative, always feels like something I'll fully accomplish in the future. I think it's an idea a lot of us can relate too.

"I'll start that novel when life settles down."

"I can't possibly work on that project I've been tossing around, school keeps me so busy."

"If I just had the time."

We come up with so many excuses, and I say this as someone who is very experienced with explaining all the reasons I don't write.

But I'm asking you to join me in being Full Time everything else while being an All Time Artist.

You know what it takes to be an artist simply to create art. I'm ditching the excuses and shaping my life to support what I say I value most. The thing is I think all of us have more time to spare than we realize. Of course many of us have full time jobs that but bread on our tables. Plus you have to eat, sleep, and commute. On top of that we have responsibilities and every so often our friends and family like to see us.

There's probably some things you could cut, like Netflix. Now I love Netflix, and I earnestly think some of the shows I watch are works of art that I admire and appreciate. But something I've really been pushing on myself is that I don't want to spend so much of my time appreciating other people's work and art and not spending at least half that time creating my own. That includes reading.

There are so many good books out there and I love to read, but I also can't spend all my free time reading when I want to be writing.

For me right now it's really about creating habits that enhance my creativity, value my art, and cut out the excuses.

It means choosing ten minutes of writing every day (because some days that's what it feels like all I have) over nothing. Because I will frequently choose nothing in the hopes of getting inspiration and having a chunk of time "to really write".

Seriously, there is never any time "to really write" I'm a friend, I have family obligations, I work full time with a two hour round trip commute, I have a kitten, I'm a wife, and I get hungry, tired, and cranky just like everyone else. There are always moments every day I have to choose. Sometimes I can't look at another piece of paper or computer after a hectic day of work. Sometimes though I'm just lazy and would rather shut my brain off then show I up and try my hand at writing something anything. You know the expression practice makes perfect, it's true, you always end up getting something out of working on your art even for just a few minutes. And it's easier to write a novel ten minutes a day then no minutes a day.

I guess, I would finish by saying value the artist within. I don't know that I'll ever be able to be set free from the traditional working world and be paid to do art. That would be awesome, but also not the point. I don't know if I'll ever get recognition for what I do, what I do know is that I will look back on my life with regret if I didn't put in that time to writing. Writing is an integral part of why I was born, who I am, what I was meant to contribute. As enjoyable as some of my past times are I don't want to think all that time I watched things I could have been making art. So even if it's only a few minutes a day I'm affirming I'm an All the time Artist in the midst of my full time job and everything else.