What if I had a year to write? By Melanie Fischer

That is a great question. No more cramming writing into an optimistically anticipated one hour that might be left over at the end of the day.

I can truly answer this question for you since I have had a couple cracks at a full year away from a "normal" job in order to write. I dove into this dream headfirst. However, the water was a bit shallower than I expected. I hit my head on the bottom of the dream when I realized that "time to write" meant time to do everything but write.

That's ok though. Since my work is flexible I have “all the time in the world” and I can write “anywhere at any time”. For instance, when my mom had her hip-replacement I could just bring my laptop with me to the hallway crowded, emergency bustling, machine beeping hospital. I could peck away at my keyboard a quarter sentence at a time as I perched myself on the 4 inch by 4 inch bed corner that I sprang from every fifteen minutes to let a nurse go by.

I have had many other places during my year(s) to write to lug my unopened laptop to as well. I was available for a very close friend through an agonizing time of losing her husband. I volunteered at a local soup kitchen and befriended the homeless and addicted. I visited an isolated arctic community and had my eyes opened to the third-world country that exists in our own country. I sat with my cousin through cancer treatments. My husband and I brought a lost teenager into our home and released our daughter back to university. I became more available for my husband in order for him to focus on his aspirations and hopped on the back of our Harley at times that my flexible schedule accommodated my husband’s less than flexible schedule. And, I had time to connect with amazing writers with similar struggles, aspirations and yearnings for inspiration.

By the end of my days that are set aside for writing I sneak away to my messy desk that is tucked away in an otherwise immaculate home that I have plenty of time to keep clean. The house is tidy, the yard is straightened, the dog is fed, the laundry is put away, the kids are grown. I take a look at the clock. Perfect! An hour of uninterrupted, laser focused, powerfully productive writing time. Just enough to write about all of the things that happened during the time that I had to write.

So, how would I write if I had a whole year to focus on it? Not much differently than if I didn’t, just a little different content that is all.



You can read Melanie’s related article “The reality in being a fulltime writer” in the Spicy section of June’s issue of her monthly Purpose Buffet at http://www.hungryforpurpose.com/purpose-buffet-june/

To sign up to receive the monthly Hungry for Purpose Buffet go to www.hungryforpurpose.com

The Ultimate – Ramona Heikel

In my usual schedule, the drive to compose sometimes results in a 5 AM creative inspiration, quickly typed, causing me to be a bit late for work, but smiling.  Other times I spend an entire Saturday morning writing (get away from me, laundry basket!), or, in a rare blessing, I have energy left at the end of a day to write coherently.  Of course, I cherish a dream of waking up each day knowing I have the luxury of writing as many hours as I want.  But what if that dream came true?

I’ve had tastes of what that would be like.  In fact, I’m still on a school holiday, which has been an opportunity to live the writing life for a few weeks.  But although living the writer’s dream, I still want to spend time with family and friends, and there are still chores and errands.  These things do a real ADHD number on me, fragmenting my schedule, and worse than that, my mind.  But with a year off, I’d definitely make some helpful changes.

The first change I’d make if I had a year to focus on writing would be to spend more time praying over my writing, and meditating on related scriptures.  Sad to say, when I’m sneaking in some precious minutes of creativity, I don’t stop to do that.

I would work on one of the drafts of my novels, or start a new novel.  Longer, in-depth plots are the most natural for me to write, but I find that with so many interruptions it is far less frustrating to write smaller pieces.

I would try to find an agent to represent me.  I come to a grinding halt when I enter the moving target of the marketing world.  In addition to an agent, with financial resources as part of the dream, I would hire a writing coach.  As self-motivated as I am mentally, I don’t always walk myself over to my pen and paper to get started.  I envision someone like Kristi Holl from the Writer’s First Aid website knocking on my door from time to time and gently, humorously, forcing me to do the hard work.

And finally, I would hire a cook and maid, and use the freed-up time get exercise with walks in the fresh air, while the thoughts and planning of my writing continue to work themselves out in my head.  For the winter I would have a treadmill or elliptical with the capability of having my laptop at my fingertips, which would require me to move into a larger place.  Which, if I was going to do that, I may as well find myself a cottage out of town…with a view of the mountains…and a babbling brook…or a beach house…?

And you?  I look forward to hearing about your writing year!

Posted by Ramona

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