A QUESTION OF TIME

               I would love to have been a fly on the wall in some Parisian café in the 1920’s, listening to those renowned expatriates talk about writing. Hemingway boasting “I write every morning” or F. Scott Fitzgerald enumerating his seven tips on writing. From a more contemporary standpoint, Stephen King tries to write six pages a day while the late Susan Sontag told people not to call her in the morning. The lists are endless. They are perhaps motivational in nature, designed to help, in a clinical fashion, to avoid writer’s block, stagnation or boredom.

               They are all a gigantic lie.

               For once, I’d like to come across a writer of some repute talk about scooping cat litter or mowing the lawn, doing grocery shopping or just plain sitting down to pay the bills and balance the checkbook. Unless you are a phenomenally successful writer who has a maid and maintenance staff and eats out three meals a day, you are likely a schmo like me, a working-class stiff who has to do some of the aforementioned list while at the same time developing your sense of creativity, actually writing and editing, and then promoting your works.

               Years ago, I worked with another writer who was twenty years younger. He often bemoaned not having enough time to write. In one regard, I could empathize. He, however, lived in an apartment, had the second of three girlfriends (in the span of time I worked with him), and stayed up all night playing online fantasy role-playing games. Meanwhile, I was a married homeowner who had two books published.

               Time is an omnipotent creature that can not be overcome. But it can be managed.

               The first thing to do is don’t pay attention to the writers of the past, the ones whose sole existence revolved around writing and creating their larger-than-life personas. Some people feel comfortable establishing and maintaining a schedule. This can be done even in the midst of other life responsibilities. If you are a morning person, you might wake up earlier than you would and write for thirty minutes. Or, you may wait until after dinner and the usual catching up with your spouse or significant other, then forgoing couch potato time or social media surfing to put in some time in the evening.

               If you are like me, there are errands and honey-dos on the weekend. Sometimes, I work on something before I go grocery shopping. There might be up to an hour in the late afternoon to get some work done before dinner. Sunday mid to late morning is useful. If my wife has things to do Sunday evening, I take advantage of that time.

               I do not stick to a schedule. I can’t. Life is too variable and flexibility is needed. I am fond of keeping notes on scraps of paper, some placed directly on the cover of my laptop as reminders. I need reminders. I use the calendar on my phone for just about everything I need to do. Of course, if there is a technical issue and the synch between mine and my wife’s calendar goes haywire and I need to spend time trying to figure out technology…well, you get my point.

               While retirement is a little over three years away and available hours will become more readily apparent, I live in the here and now. There are responsibilities that call me away from the keyboard, limit my social media interactions, and cause a strain trying to maintain a balance between that which I would like to do and that which I need to do. It is all nothing more than a question of time and the judicious use of it.

               Oh, to be sitting in a café in Paris in the 1920’s