Real Writers Don’t Have Free Time

That’s a bold statement to make, isn’t it? I don’t mean it as harshly as it sounds, but I do see a bit of truth in it. Don’t worry, I’ll explain –

Sometimes we get so caught up in the novelty of simply having free time that we do nothing with it. After a busy day at work (or more realistically, a string of busy days), I’ll find myself grabbing takeout and plopping down on the couch to watch Netflix for a few hours before I got to sleep.

But when I look back, all I can do is bemoan the fact that I didn’t write anything. Whose fault is that? Mine, of course, despite how much I don’t want to see it that way. As William Goldman (author of The Princess Bride) once said, “The easiest thing to do on earth is not write.”

It’s different to relax after you’ve worked and read and written your daily pages, but to do nothing when you know you should be writing is possibly the most damaging thing you can do to your skill as a writer.

The simple truth is that when they have free time, real writers don’t sit around and do nothing – they write.