Writing and feeling guilty

Alesia Holliday wrote a blog entry called Writing and Mommy Guilt for Romancing the Blog, in which she talks about feeling guilty-ridden for not dedicating more time to her kids due to her writing. She went on to ask if other working mothers feel the same way. I read the comments left to her blog entry, and since I'm happily single and childless, I thought "Ha! Lucky me. I can write to my heart's content whenever I want. Hakuna matata! Guilt free." ...or am I? A lot of people think that because I'm single without children my life lacks responsibilities towards others. It's like I'm the poster child of a carefree life. That's so not true. I have elderly parents who take part of my time - like taking them to the doctor's appointment, running errands, taking care of them during operations, etc. Since I'm the only child, I don't have anyone else to help me with their care. So I feel guilty when I can't spend more time with them. Besides, as latina, the meaning of family extends beyond the nucleous father/mother. My goddaughters are a huge part of my life. Sometimes the eldest, who's 12, calls me asking me to take her to Borders to buy books, or help her with a homework. Or just recently the youngest, who's 8, called me inviting me to see her at a little drama at her school. I feel like *insert your favorite word here* when I have to tell them that "their godmother" can't take them to Borders or attend their school activities because I'm writing. Between my full-time job and writing my time is limited now. There are times in which I feel like I'm neglecting those dear to me. Feeling guilty, I try to make up later. Yet, there's no such thing as making up for time lost. I can make "new time" for them, but never recover the time lost. So, yes, there are those moments where I feel guilty as hell for using most of my free time for writing. Specially since I've got a well-paid full-time job. I can't help it.