Making time

I had an interesting conversation with someone tonight, and I wanted to talk a bit about it. We were talking about how I was out of practice on certain things that in the past I highly valued, and in fact still value, and why that happened. My answer was simply that there wasn't enough time, which I do and will maintain is the answer. There's never enough time, and because of that you have to make your choices on what you want to do with it. I'm not the best at that, and I will never claim to be. But there are some things that I value enough that I forgo being lazy to do them, and lazy is my main function. One of those things is writing.

So when I told him that I spent most of my free time writing, he told me to stop, and to commit that time to other practices. Now, to be fair, he did not know me. He did not know that I am an author, and that that is my passion, and that if I stopped writing I would hate myself and never forgive me for doing so. But, that doesn't excuse such a baseless statement, especially so when it was not a suggestion, but an order. It wasn't "You should top writing as much." It was "Stop writing."

And even when I told him who I was, he still did not understand. Because we were talking about playing guitar in particular, he told me that when I am trying to think of what to write next, I should practice guitar and play a few songs.

Now, I can understand that this person was not a writer. He may very well have never spent a moment of his life ever attempting to write something creatively. And I can almost guarantee that he has never even thought to attempt writing a novel. But can you imagine if anyone gave that kind of advice to anyone else? What if it were a doctor who didn't feel he had time to exercise? "Lift a few weights while you're waiting for the nurse to hand you the scalpel during a surgery."

That's not how making time works. There are many things in life where stopping and stepping back, taking a breath, relaxing and just thinking are vital to the process. It's not space you can just fill with something else. Trying to do so would disrupt the flow of what you are doing, and prevent you from getting the work done at all.

I get that writing is less than a common passion. Sure, lots of people do it, but being an author goes a step beyond that many people don't understand. I get that seeing someone sitting at a computer with a text document open while they're staring blankly into the distance looks weird. But that's no less important to an author than protein is to a bodybuilder. It's not something you can just skip to make more time.