The more I read what writers create, the more I grow amazed by their extraordinary artistry. No wonder so many people think authors have some sort of supernatural talent. But the more I read about how writers work, the more I understand the one factor they all have in common: they regularly make the time to write. Some write in the morning (from what I've read, most do), and others write in the evening. Some write fulltime, and others write before or after their other job, or in between two regular jobs (these groups include stay-at-home parents). Some use all their vacation time to write, and others use their vacation time to mine for ideas they will write about later. Some may write only three hours five days a week, and others may write twelve hours six to seven days a week. Nevertheless, they all write regularly.
Developing writers (we all are) set a time to write. But they don't freak out if they miss their scheduled time. Let's say you've set a writing schedule of 6:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday, totaling 18 hours a day. All goes well until the third week, when you find your life catches up to you, making Saturday writing impossible. Big deal! Give it up. You're still writing 15 hours a week. Later, you find you miss the Tuesday evening or Thursday morning timeslot. Again, who cares? You'll continue with the next session, or you can find a moment on Wednesday to give it a little more time. The idea is not to let a small failure in time management stop the engine. If the world stopped operating over every time slip, we would not have a single building, bridge, tunnel, or car. Just make the time, any time.
