Just What I Needed

As a writer with a full time day job, and a family, it can be difficult for me to find time to write.  In my earlier days of writing, I used to come home after working all day, have dinner and then head straight for my computer where I would write until bedtime. I would also write from sun up to sun down on the weekends.

All this writing time was great, but it translated to not spending much time with my family so I changed the routine. I still spend most of my weekends writing, but I no longer write in the evenings after working all day. I confine my weekday writing to my lunch hour on the day job. The formula’s been working, but like any writer, I wish I had more time to write. That’s especially true when I’m close to finishing a story and I want to see how it ends.

There are some bonus days to write. Those are the days that I’m supposed to be at the day job, but I get the day off. Those are typically a holiday. Now, there are some holidays that I won’t be writing because they’re for family, but there are some that I can sneak in the time to write.

This past weekend, I decided I was going to lengthen my Memorial Day weekend by taking Friday off the day job. That Friday, my husband was working, one child was in school and the other spent the day with her friends. That gave me an entire day to work on a story that I was near finishing and pretty damned excited about.

Good news! Thanks to my extra day off, I finished the first draft of that story. I also started the editing of another novel that I’m hoping to be ready for release this month.

It was such a great feeling to take that time and be able to focus on my story and my characters without any distractions. The fact that I was so productive was an even better feeling. It made me wish that I could give up the day job and take up writing as my full time gig. I’m not there yet, but I will say that extra day to myself was just what I needed. You better believe I’ll be doing it again soon.