I’ve become a very efficient writer.
But it’s no fun.
With work taking up so much time, and with a family that I love hanging out with, it’s not easy finding time to write regularly.
So I’ve become efficient, using just about every free moment I can. I try to write for 20 or 30 minutes during lunch. I remind myself during the drive to and from work to actively think out whatever problem’s facing my character or story. If I have any creative energy left over, I write at night after the wife and baby have passed out.
It wasn’t always like this. It used to be more fun.
For a couple years I worked from home so I was really in control of my schedule. I could front-load a bunch of work to give myself a good window, then spend a whole day writing. Or a couple days.
Toward the end of writing Dismal, I gave myself a whole week. I’ve always wanted to be a bike mechanic. (In fact, if I ever, through some fluke, become wildly wealthy, I’m gonna open a bike shop and wrench a few days a week. Promise.) Anyway, knowing this, my generous and loving wife bought me a week’s stay at a B&B in West Virginia owned by a guy who also owns a bike shop. He said if I wanted to, I could come stay with him and he’d teach me everything I needed to know in that week.
I was so freaking excited. A week learning bike mechanic stuff, riding and writing. I packed my bike, laptop and some clothes, drove out to WV and told him I was ready for class to start as soon as he was.
He wasn’t ready that day.
Or the next.
In fact, he never got ready. Never taught me a goddamned thing. Asshole.
But, I did have a week in a beautiful place with no work, no obligations, nothing to do but write, ride my bike, drink coffee and wine, stroll about, and write.
Got a lot done that week.
But now, this new system doesn’t allow for substantial gains. It’s tough trying to hit your rhythm when you work in spurts like this.
How do people do it? I mean, the beginners, like me.
Maybe I could give up eating entirely, switch to an IV. That should free up some time.
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You could be like me, and give up all hope of ever earning any real money by taking a third shift job at some place willing to pay you simply for your presence. But I warn you, somehow the combination of mindless tiny work chores and lack of appropriate circadian rhythms will still undermine you.
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