Doing Nothing but Writing

I had a weekend this weekend.

Or, more specifically, I actually got to do what I wanted with Saturday and Sunday. A lot of weekends get booked up, get busy, get filled with fun and brilliant and unique things, but then it's Monday before you even think about relaxing.

Where I am in my life right now - with a day job, sneaking in my fiction writing when I can - that can be a bad thing. Cause at the end of the day, I think what makes a writer is that you really want to do one thing more than any other; write.

But life is real, and for most, that is not. So, having a writing schedule is important. It doesn't have to be rigorous - 0600 hours, write powerful confessional dialogue, 0645, produce volume of brief but illuminating poetry, 0715, capture ennui using haiku and rhyme - but it should., essentially, leave room in your week for doing what you love:

Making things up and writing them down.

Well, this weekend, I did that. I get these days every now and then, when the wind blows the right way, and the augurs raise no objections. I get my wife's blessing to be an anti-social sod, and I write, and write, and write.

It's great. Oh, I have to stop every now and then and remember to be lovely to my increasingly patience spouse, but I also blitz through (without rushing) so much stuff.

The edits of my second novel, THE STORY BOY, have come on leaps and bounds. The bare bones of my new short story for the AW Blog Chain is written. This blog post is done, and if you're reading it, then that's another thing I've got ticked off my list.

Writers write, and you shouldn't feel bad about it - but it is a pretty isolating thing to do. It's good to have some time to do it and not feel like you're shunning people. If you're a writer, I can't recommend it strongly enough - just put a day in the calendar, as if it were a business meeting or a trip with friends. Lock yourself away and type - scribble! - scrawl! - and don't look back or at the time.

See how productive we can be. See how we fly.

So I'm on a writing high, right now. The edits for TSB seem so right, and in a month or so I can't wait to see what other people think.

For now, though, they're mine to read, to work on, to think about, and to write.

SPC.