24. Reading, Writing, (Running) & Arithmetic

I've read that the first step in becoming a novelist is to find a way not to work for a year. Save up enough money so that you can quit your job and have nothing to do but write. Someone actually said that. I thought it was ridiculous at the time and I think it's ridiculous now. Not that it wouldn't be nice. But really... who are they talking to?

More realistically, I think the key to writing is making time. Not freeing up every hour of every day for 365 straight days. But 2 or 3 hours a day before and after work, more on days off, and whole days on the weekends. Subtracting a little time from this or that and adding it to writing helps out a whole lot. It's all about the math.

Here's mine:

If I have 10 productive hours a day, 7 days a week, then I have 70 hours a week to allocate to whatever I need to get done. I currently spend about 27 hours a week working at and commuting to the library, and I am committed to running an hour a day, 5 days a week.

70 - 27 - 5 leaves me with 38 hours a week to write.

Of course, my priority right now isn't a novel, but a dissertation. I figure the same principle holds. By my math, when I'm not bullsh*tting, there are almost 40 hours in a week for me to get it in. Let's see what we can do.