Finding Time

It has been more than a few days since I posted, and much of the reason can be blamed on the clock.

The rest is my own fault (but don't tell anybody).

I have been hard at it with the follow-up to Blood of Two and it is going slow, but it is going.  I'll save some of that for another post.

One of the things about writing a book and working a full time job is finding that short span of time to dedicate to writing.  It can be quite the challenge.  Some writer's get up early and spew out a few words before work.  Some will utilized technology and hammer out a bit during breaks.  Since I crawl out of bed at 3am to get to work by 4, I wait till after work.

I am a creature of habit.  Such a creature of habit it is almost silly.  Oh, heck.  There's no almost about it.  I get home from work, check the mail, check a few websites I frequent, pay a bill or two, take a shower and pour myself something to drink.  Most nights it's just a Mountain Dew, other nights it calls for something with a kick.

I then ease into my office, which is my writing domain.  I will check in with some of my social networking that I joined up with specifically for my writing.  This here blog would be one, the facebook page for my writings is another.  I haven't quite found the magic touch with Twitter yet, though I do occasionally tweet, and Google+ is still a mystery for me.  Regardless, I hit em all and contribute if I can.

Then it is time to write.  I fire up the music, light up the incense, and away I go.  For how long?  Until the characters in my head grow mute.

So, you see, I have found time to write, however there is another issue:  I have forgotten about the time to vegetate.

Some people call this vegetation time 'Re-charging', and there is a lot of truth to that.  Don't get hung up with word counts and progress if your writing has turned into work.  Take a few moments and hang back with your family and friends.

Just this last weekend I had just completed a chapter that was a chore.  It was like every word I typed had to be squeezed out of me like a clove of garlic in a press.  I had spent most of the last week with that single chapter (which will likely get shredded on the first edit).  Saturday and Sunday, I didn't write a thing.  I hung out with my wife.  We looked at new motorcycles, bought some stuff for our May bike trip, ate a couple of meals, and caught up on some television.

When I returned to my writing domain last night, I spewed out a thousand words before the first stick of incense expired.

You will often discover that finding time to do nothing at all will re-invigorate your writing.  Take a day off and when you come back to the keyboard you just might get lost in your story.

Of course, you can take this thought too far...