The Right Time to Write
By Jill Davis

      Ask writer’s how much time they spend bum to chair, fingers on keys, blank page in front of them. You’ll get answers that make writing seem like factory work. “I spend six hours a day writing, or it took me two days to write one paragraph.” Yellow flags begin to fly in my head when I hear this. At an intimate reading and lecture, I asked my usual question. “How long do you spend at the computer each day?”
      “Six hours.” The author answered. I think that writers are like Google, you have to learn to ask the right question.
       So I rephrased. “I mean, how long do you sit in front of the computer, working on your manuscript before you get up and go to the bathroom, get a drink, or make a phone call.” I asked.
      “I make myself write one page before I do anything else.” Now we are getting somewhere I thought. “What do you let yourself do after that one page?” I continued. “Well, I hate to admit this,” she said sheepishly, “ I go into a writer’s chat room.”
     Which begs the question, just what qualifies as writing? If I spend the morning writing emails. I certainly count that as writing. Or at least a gym that keeps my fingers in shape. One of my writing friends and I email back and forth solely for the purpose of writing our stories to each other. When I tell him a story in writing, I am sharper, more focused, more centered and unreserved. I have an immediate audience.
      I find the question, how much should I write much more agonizing than how much do I write?” I read Finding your North Star by Martha Beck, she let us into her head about her writing process. First she thought that she could write her dissertation in six hours a day, then she thought three hours a day was more realistic, finally she humbled herself to fifteen minutes a day. She did it in a year.
      I mentor several disadvantaged college aged kids and I one thing I try to get them to see, is that even if they have a full time work load, it is more important to take just one class a semester and let credits slowly accumulate than it is to let time slip by.
      I asked a panel of journalist who were responsible for putting out five hundred words a week how long it took them. The answers varied depending on energy and enthusiasm. While I am not a journalist, I did realize that if they could take a whole week to polish five hundred words, so could I. Five hundred words a week over fifty two weeks would be twenty six thousand words. Isn’t that a novel?
      Take all the time you need, want and relish to write. Suzuki taught his string students to practice only the days they ate. If writers are anything, they are students. Be a good student and only write only on the days you eat.