I Defy Thee, Vile Winter!

It came to my attention this week that my daily writing progress is inversely related to the amount of snow sitting in my driveway.

You see, I’ve been trying really hard to write 1,000 words a day this year, and so far it’s been going great. I’ve been on a roll.

Cue the entrance of my arch-nemesis, Winter.

A few days ago, a mild snowstorm blew through the area. It messed up the morning commute, but stopped before noon. The sun came out and, looking through my windows at work, the parking lot seemed clear, barely a dusting on any cars, and traffic on the roads returned to normal.

Driving home that evening, I was singing away to tunes and merrily brainstorming ideas for my nightly writing session.

La dee da dee…*thud.*

I got to my driveway. Inexplicably covered in three inches of pristine snow. It really hadn’t snowed that hard. I spent a few self-pitying moments muttering and whining to myself about where all that snow had possibly come from when everywhere else seemed to be free and clear, then I got to work shoveling.

Now, three inches of snow is nothin’ to a born-and-raised Midwestern girl, but it still takes me a good 45 minutes to do my entire driveway. I don’t have one of them new-fangled snowblower contraptions, so it’s just me and my shovel against the elements. ;)

I actually love snow, but lately it’s been super frustrating from a writing standpoint. At most, I have maybe an hour or two of free time to write each night. And I scrimp and plan and connive all day to keep that sacred block of time. On snowy days, I spend nearly half of it shoveling.

Grrr! I am determined to prevail. Old Man Winter will not defeat me!

How about you? Has weather ever affected your writing goals?