The Five "W"s Part 3

Today I'll attempt to address the question:  When do you have time to write?

Answer: I suppose people ask this question because they are wondering . . . don't you have another job?  Of course I do.  In fact, I work around 60 hours a week as a pastor.  But as I've charted my writing hours beyond this I've learned that I work an additional 40 hours a week writing.

But when? Well, let's begin with several observations.  First, I don't have a life.  There's little on TV that I watch (in fact, I only have "rabbit ear" reception in our house . . . no U-Verse, no cable, no satellite.)  And as the average American watches something like 90 hours of TV a week, well . . . I use this time to write instead.  Sure, I'll occasionally watch a rerun of The Andy Griffith Show, or I might watch a football game like I did last night, but I also write while I watch, and when the TV goes off, I write some more.

Most days I also write long before the sun comes up (that's very early a.m boys-n-girls!) and when I come home from a day at the church office for example, even if it's 9:30 p.m., I usually hit the writing trail again for a few hours.  

I also write on those occasions when I have a day off.  Some of these days, I write all day.  I'm not talking part of the day (like 3-4 hours), but I'm saying I might write all day. All day means that I might write from 6 a.m. to midnight.  What's that . . . something like 18 hours?  That's a lot of numb-butt writing let me tell you.  But I do it.  

I write when I'm driving.  Can't explain it, but I have a great many pieces that I've written in "my head" while traveling from one appointment to the next.  I write on airplanes.  I write on buses.  I write on the computer.  I write on scraps of paper.  I write on the back of my hand.  

Recently I wrote a piece entitled:  "Writing in the Dark."  That's when I do most of my writing.  Some day I hope to write in the daylight.  That would be a wonderful treat, to be able to have fun in the mornings and evenings.  I might even do more more with my wife at those hours. 

When do I write?  Well . . . perhaps a better question is--when do I not write?

I have to keep writing to meet all the deadlines . . . and sometimes it's the writing that is keeping me alive.