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Write in the shower (or wherever you are)
I just looked at the clock. 7:35 am. That leaves me ten, maybe fifteen minutes to write before it's time to go to my day job. What can I achieve in such a short time?
Much, as it turns out. My current schedule only allows me to dedicate fragments of time to my passion, my true vocation. Some days, desperately, I spend those precious moments staring helplessly at a blinking cursor, or with the pen in my frozen hand; in others, my fingers fly across the keyboard and the words appear almost effortlessly on the screen.
I spend my time away from the keyboard. At work, while driving, or when showering. Sitting in the waiting room of a doctor's office, standing in line at a grocery store, exercising. When I spend all this time without writing thinking about things without writing (my bills, my to-do list, a misunderstanding with a co-worker or whatever), I realize that I am not ready to write when those brief, are left precious time slots available to write.
But when I use the time without writing to think about writing, to generate ideas, to actively listen to the conversations around me, to consciously notice the details of the room I am in, the person I am with or how I really feel in any Given time, I get to my little chunks of writing time equipped to use them well.
Take this morning as an example. Instead of daydreaming or worrying or fidgeting in the shower, I decided to ask myself the question, "What can I write about today?" What would you put there when the time came? Oh, I thought, I haven't written an article on writing in a while, and I have almost two weeks before my next issue, could I start a new one today? About? Perhaps many of them also face full days that leave only brief and scattered opportunities to write. What can I tell you?
Hence the first paragraphs of this article. And the satisfaction of knowing that, later in the day or early the next, I can pick up where I left off, with no blank screen staring at me.
Believe me, these 10-15 minute time slots for writing add up. In three or four days, you can have the first draft of a 500-800 word article, one or two inquiry letters, a book outline, a scene for your novel, or various sentiments for greeting cards. During the following days, you can polish them. Ship them to the appropriate markets when they are ready to go. Smile with a sense of accomplishment.
I am completing this article over a 30 minute period on a Saturday morning, a week before my next issue is out. I will have plenty of time to edit and improve it over the next few days, by which time I will have started other projects as well.
an excuse not to write and not to get published. Certainly, you may only have precious moments to spend on your keyboard. Come to those moments constantly prepared, watch those moments pile up and those projects take shape, and your dream of writing will come true.