More on time

Someone asked where I find time to write as much as I do, though I didn't realize I write that much.

Frankly, I think I have three advantages over a lot of people.

First, I'm not married and have no children. Without the conflict of wanting to spend my time with family, not to mention the time restrictions caused by familial responsibilities, it is much easier for me to carve out blocks of time to work on my writing.

Second, I work at home. I work for an ad agency based some 600 miles away. I'm supposed to be at my computer working on ad/PR stuff by about 8:30. It is very easy for me to get up at 6 or 6:30 a.m. and have a good solid two hours of writing time. Likewise, I can better use my lunch break or be back to writing fiction at 5 p.m. sharp. Without the mad dash to get up and get to the office, the fight during the commute, etc, a lot of time is freed up -- time I spend on writing.

Finally, I spent a number of years as a journalist. There is something about having daily and weekly deadlines and about having to write 8, 10, 12 stories per week that trains you to write very fast. Another thing is that -- and maybe this is just my imagination -- it seems that my rough drafts are a heck of a lot cleaner that those of other writer's I've read. Regardless, journalism teaches you to write fast, with brevity, and to write cleanly -- and to ignore writer's block when it tries to set in.

In the end, finding the time to write is about prioritizing the things in your life. Of course, that's easy for me to say since I don't have to get the kids off to school, spend an hour or more a day sitting in the car commuting to work, and doing a long "honey do" list.

One of the advantages of the journalism experience is I find I can write a large number of words in even short bursts. I believe anyone can train themselves and develop the focus to do that. Once you can, even an hour a day of writing time becomes highly productive and personally -- and who knows, maybe professionally -- satisfying.