Writing Like Laundry

I'm writing from my deck this morning and realizing that one of the reasons it's hard for me to write is that I've been wanting results.  I've likened my writing to mowing the lawn instead of doing laundry.  I love mowing the lawn because when I'm done I put the lawn mower away for the week and I can look at the nicely cut lines in my grass and sit on my deck and drink a Diet Mountain Dew and feel good.  Laundry is a different story.  I hate laundry.  It's every where and no matter how much of it I do, I can't put the detergent away for the week or even two days!  There's laundry in the bathrooms, on every bedroom floor, on the laundry room floor, on the floor in the hallway, and in laundry baskets if I'm lucky.  Last week I opened Johnny's Lacrosse bag to let his stinky equipment air out and I found six pairs of dirty socks!  When cleaning out van I find laundry.  Vacuuming under couch cushions I find laundry and almost every load of clothes contains someones laundry I don't even recognize! 

In the past I have been able to write like I mow the grass because  I wrote skits and short Bible study stories.  I could finish them within the week, sometimes in just a day or two.  As I wrote the last line or touched up the clincher at the end of the skit, I knew I was done.  It felt good.  I could move onto something else.  A book is so much more like the laundry.  It seems that it will never be finished.  At the end of the day I don't get to wrap something up or tie everything together.  It's always left undone.  Ugh! 

So, I'm going to try to change my expectations.  Like the laundry, I'm going to plod along and do a little every day.  However, unlike the laundry, someday this book will get done and I will be able to sit back on my deck, drink my Diet Dew and feel good.