Hello! Happy September!
It’s time for our first Five Minute Friday link-up of the month.
Learn more about the link-up and how it works here.
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This week’s FMF writing prompt is: BOUNDARY
Setting my time for five minutes, and . . . GO.Â
This past weekend I was spoiled to attend a working writers’ retreat (with the emphasis on working). 😉 My friend Katie invited me to stay at an AirBnB with her and a few other women as we each put our heads down and cranked out a bunch of words onto the page (or laptop, as it were).
I was so thankful for the focused time away and, as always, didn’t get done as much as I had hoped. But progress was made!
During one of the mealtimes as we were chatting, one of the women commented about how she had asked another fellow writer if she’d like to get together. The other writer said, “Oh, I’d love that! But I can’t do it until two months from now because I’m on a writing deadline.”
The woman at the table commented with something like, “That really struck me (in a positive way) how she had placed a boundary in her life and was holding to it so she could get the work done that she needed to do.”
I know I’ve had to take similar measures in my own writing life. It took me a while to figure it out (and even longer to stick to it), but it really does make a difference.
In fact, even as I prepare to host another Writing Accountability Group this month, I have to say no to other fun things I would like to do because I know I can’t fit it all in around my work schedule.
What about you? Have you learned to set a helpful boundary around a particular area of your life? Perhaps it’s time, or maybe it’s related to a relationship.
The reality is, unless we guard our choices and be intentional about them, our time, relationships, goals, and other factors can become casualties in the grand scheme of our lives.
STOP.
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Speaking of creating a boundary around our time, one way I seek to do that in my own writing life is by hosting an online Writing Accountability Group . . . and the next round starts this week!
There’s still time to register if you’d like to join us.
We meet online every Friday in September from 11am-12:30pm Eastern. I run a fairly tight ship, so you’re guaranteed to get a solid sixty minutes of writing completed (in three separate twenty-minute blocks with five-minute breaks in between).
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Our next Writing Accountability Group starts THIS week!
We’ll be meeting online every Friday in September 2026.
I’d love to see you there!
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Join us with your own five-minute freewrite on the prompt, BOUNDARY, below, then visit your link-up neighbor to read their post and leave an encouraging comment:
I’d love to set a boundary
upon the desert flies,
for the seem to flock to me,
get in my nose and eyes,
and drive me slightly freakin’ mad
as I flail the air,
and the words I say are bad
(I hope God doesn’t care,
but speak of God, I’d like to ask
just why He went and made the things,
why He undertook the task
to give Annoyance buzzy wings!).
But now I think I’ll go inside,
shut screen door, and try to hide.
Yes! Boundaries are freedom! After reading “Boundaries” (Cloud/Townsend) I realized my crazy life was 90% my fault! LOL After putting boundaries in place I felt more in control of my life, not so “put upon” and I was much happier. Now my boundaries are strong, but I still have to remember why I placed them there. Every once in a while someone comes along to test me and I remember … Oh, yeah …
I have pretty good boundaries, but I had to learn the hard way.