When I finally decided to create my website, I had several ideas for articles I wanted to write. I even had outlines in my head for each one. But I just couldn’t gain traction.

Working a full-time job, spending time and taking care of my family, and other side projects can fill up every block of time available.

That doesn’t even count finding a moment to myself just to stop and breathe!

I really wanted to start writing for myself and on my site vs. just for others, but the moment never seemed right; the setting never seemed right. I didn’t have my laptop out and ready, I didn’t have a quiet spot to think, I was wearing the wrong clothes (yes, I felt I needed to be dressed better to write. Ha), and the list continues.

It just wasn’t happening.

It was frustrating to me because I had spent time creating the pages on my website, and now I couldn’t get a single article on there.

It was taking much longer than I anticipated.

One night, lying in bed, lights already out, I thought, ‘why don’t I just write – like now? I’m just going to write from my phone.’

It seemed to be the only time I had a moment to think and get the words out.

I grabbed my phone and started writing in my website word editor. Formatting was imperfect, autocorrect was doing a terrible job, pages were doing some phone bounce thing and it was…interesting.

Typically, writing in the website word editor is a no-no. Though I keep backups, they are daily backups, not second-by-second backups.

One little glitch could erase an entire article.

However, I didn’t care. Writing in the editor made me feel more committed to finishing. It was like the gun had gone off, and I had started the race. I knew I wanted to finish.

I took screenshots on my phone to add images to my article. I edited and resized the photos, then compressed them on my phone before uploading them to my site. It’s messy and clunky to do all this on a phone. Being at a computer would be so much faster.

But I pressed onward, resolved to finish my article and click Publish.

Instead of random scrolling and consuming everyone else’s content, I made my own.

Using these moments in time helped me finish several articles. I think I would still have them sitting in my backlog if I had continued to wait for the stars to align.

It reminds me of the famous proverb – “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is today.”

The best time to write is when you have a thought.

The best time to write might be in the 20 minutes you have supper cooking in the oven.

Writing this way reminds me that life isn’t lived in a straight line. Rarely do things work out exactly how you think they will. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be great.

Sometimes you just have to do it. Even if it’s not perfect!

* I wrote this entire article in a Google Keep note laying in bed. I finished at 12:30 am.

A primitive choice in the current state of technology writing apps. But it’s done. Accomplished ☑️