When writing isn't your full-time job.

[Nicole R]

Regan, I hear ya! I've been absent from the forums all summer trying to keep up with my day-job, which has ranged from 45-50 hours a week, plus grad school and two freelance clients. Ick! It has not been pretty.

I do have one suggestion that works wonders for me. I carry a mini tape recorder so I can capture scenes and phrases even when I'm on the move. When I finally do get time, I can type up a whole bunch of recordings and, in the meantime, I still feel like I'm moving the story forward each day. With your two-hour commute, it might be a solution to try. You'd be amazed at what you can "write" while sitting in traffic.

Good luck!

[sierramcconnell]

One of the reasons I think I'm not as OMG business driven as other people (though many people tell me I'm a natural leader and could go places and do things) is because I tend to like what they call 'vacation jobs'.

It's a job where you have the downtime to think, research, write, and doodle between jobs.

Currently, I'm a phone technician. I do phone support. So I have time to sit and think a lot. I have time to write on my tablet with a stylus (actually, it does work well, though it means edits later, I was going to edit it anyway!), and I have time to research when I need to while doing other things.

While the guys around me are playing games and goofing off, I'm building my future.

Then when I get home, I have a little of relaxing, playing to get the creativity flowing, and it's in the bed to write some more or to get things done I couldn't at work because I needed the laptop or stuff in my notes, or the dolls, or to enact a scene.

Writing isn't just about having a slab of paper\laptop. It's also about the things between we fit into our schedules. It's the planning in our heads, the notes we take, (for me) the acting out for characters that I do during the day to day (how would Soren or Benito take this situation?).

So really...writing may not be my full time job but it's my full time life. And I pulled eleven extra hours last week.