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I second or third the notion of routine, meaning as soon as you wake up, sleepwalk down the hall, boot up the computer and . . . no, wait, that's another routine . . . not only draw or paint at a regular time as many days a week as you can, but do it whether you think you want to or not. If you've got a commitment to begin at 10, do whatever it takes to start on time. If 10:30 seems like a better idea some morning, go stand in front of the easel and do nothing from 10 to 10:30 -- if you can actually keep from picking up a pastel stick or a brush -- but Show Up, just as if you'd interviewed for the job and had been selected from among a huge slate of hopeful applicants. Let others know what your routine is, too, and that it's important to you. Sometimes the kids will have their hearts set on spinach for dinner and they'll have to eat artichoke hearts instead, because you just didn't get to the grocery that day. (They may even begin to insist that you paint longer each day!) Sometimes the sheets won't get laundered today, or the shelves dusted, or the oil changed. Life will go on and folks will begin to respect you for your attitude toward your work.
There are all variations on this, but a paraphrase of many of them is that amateurs wait for inspiration and the right time, whereas professionals go to work every day and invite inspiration to come along.
(So why am I sitting in front of a computer?)
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