Using Minutes to Gain Hours or Writing in the Spaces of Life

There is this idea that writers must spend hours sitting alone to compose and revise a text. There are many famous writers who write about their writing process, and they describe sitting alone at a desk waiting for the muse to come. Now granted, there is a lot to be said scheduling time to write. It is a good plan. If you are a well paid published writer, maybe this is an option for you, but if you have a job, a family, or a life of any kind, sitting alone in the mountain cabin for 6 months to write your novel or academic essay may not be an option today. It is not an option for me at the moment. Don’t get me wrong; I love that pastoral dream, and maybe, one day, I will give to live it. But today, my reality involves, driving my son to school, working a full time job, doing laundry, feeding the dog, and getting the writing done.

The reality is I often write while the dog drools on my foot and my son swims for 20 minutes in the pool before needing an emergency popsicle. If I need a whole hour to myself, I wake up early or edit in the middle of the night while the house sleeps. (I can usually still count on dog drool even at these hours.) I do not want to sound overly dedicated here; I spend a lot of time coming up with reasons not to write. Life is busy and reasons are easy to find.

Writing has to happen while we live. We have to fit it in, or it won’t get done.

We must write within the spaces of our lives, and to use the words of my freshman high school English teacher we must, “use minutes to gain hours” to get our writing done.