Animated Insights… Wisps of Writing Wisdom

I’d love to say there’s an easy solution for this, especially for those of us who also juggle a full-time day job.  But there really isn’t one.  Many articles advise setting aside a dedicated time each day, which frankly I’d love to do but with the reality of having to be up out of bed and out the door in time to make the morning commute and then not always being able to leave work at the same time each day affecting what time I get home… well, you get the idea.  Then, even with the assistance of digital recording devices or even your trusty old videocassette recorder, shows on TV can be captured for later but sometimes after a long day’s work you just want to watch it NOW.

 Or, perhaps you work that regular schedule and always set aside a time to work.  Creativity, in my experience, doesn’t seem to operate like clockwork. 

 What I wind up doing is writing when I feel bursts to do so, as long as it’s appropriate (i.e. while not on the clock at work).  Whether it’s out at lunch, at home, in the park, I always take something to write on with me.  Then I take those transcriptions and flesh them out when I get home.  Overall, I’ve found I get more done that way and don’t lose my best flashes of inspiration to feeling like “I need to keep a schedule”.

Most of us can’t make a living on writing alone.  That includes me.  After two books of nonfiction I’m working on trying to get a fiction novel done, but it’s so easy to get distracted by other things after I come back from a long office day at a job I enjoy (and I don’t write at work, for the record!).  Still, I know I have to keep at it so as not to get rusty.  I can alrady see places where my fiction skills need some work because nonfiction has been my sole focus the last two years.  I can only imagine how much more I’ll slip if I don’t keep at it!