More Hours In My Day.

Those of us who are pursuing a career in publishing while working at a day job and at the same time, keeping the home fires burning often find ourselves wishing we had the ability to stretch time.

In January, I found myself (insert tongue in cheek) a lady of leisure (meaning: My company folded and I was without a job). I gleefully spent the entire winter sitting cozily at my computer tap-tap-tapping out the pages of a novel, collecting my unemployment benefits, while casually looking for gainful employment (something that actually brings in a paycheck).

In the spring, I began to get a little nervous. I still didn’t have a job, but the writing was going great.

By the end of June, we were wearing our belts unfashionably tight in my household and I was forced to register with a temp agency and work full time in a dreary office job.

That was okay, I could deal with the commute, the hum of printers and fax machines and people yakking about their weekend plans while they stood next to my so very NOT private cubicle. I had lunch hours, after work and weekends to write. Not to worry.

Then it happened. The week after RWA National, where I was asked to submit a complete manuscript with some major changes, I was offered a job in my field of expertise. I’d make more money than I’d ever dreamed. But there was a catch. The hours sucked pond water through a leaky, dirty straw.

Now, I’ve heard all the advice:
Get up an hour earlier and write for that hour.
Write during your lunch hour on your laptop or Alphasmart.
Instead of driving straight home during rush hour, find a quiet spot and wait out the heavy traffic and write on your laptop or Alphasmart.

That worked fine when I worked the usual 9 to 5. But now what???

I’m not sure about other professions, but there’s nothing normal about my “day” job. Some days, like today, I don’t have to be at work until one in the afternoon and I’ll get home around nine this evening. But tomorrow, I’ll have to be out of the house by four am and won’t return home until nearly midnight. Most of that time, I’ll be on the road, driving and if I’m not driving, I’ll be actively working with only a fifteen to thirty minute break—if I’m lucky.

What’s a girl to do? Since even in our post-space-age era, we can’t stretch time, we have to snatch the few precious moments we can and utilize them to the best of our ability.

On those days when I get to stay home later in the morning, I don’t loll around in bed, enjoying a few extra hours of sleep. I get up and head straight for the computer. I read my email, take care of anything important and then get busy with writing.

Recently, I read an article in a previous issue of The Galley by fellow GRW member, Stephanie Bond on “Input Overload”. She really hit a nerve with this one. It’s so easy to be tempted by all the gadgets and “tools” that are at our fingertips nowadays, that we waste an incredible amount of time.

I knew I was guilty of a lot of what she talked about, so I no longer turn on my instant messenger in the mornings and I’ve resisted the urge to visit my favorite loops and forums during the week. I allow myself to indulge in those semi-guilty pleasures from 7 to 10 am on the weekends only.

This has enabled me to get in one to three hours of writing time each morning before I have to leave the house.

On the days when my time is completely dominated by work, I take a deep breath and accept the fact that I won’t be writing that day. I can’t change it and stressing over it won’t do a thing except raise my blood pressure. I keep a notebook with me and if I have a moment at a stop light, I write down a thought that I can use later.

I may not write the next War and Peace anytime soon, but I’m doing pretty doggoned good with my rewrites.

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