Limitations on writing time: they can be good for us

We writers pine for a day when we can just write. No obligations, no kids interrupting (through a closed door, no less), no deadlines, no nothing. Just us and the blank page. What a privilege that would be, right?

Actually, I don’t think so. Don’t get me wrong. I love a solitary writing retreat. I finished two books thanks to multi-day stints at our family’s beach bungalow. But I’m ready to return to the real world at the end of those escapes. And despite the progress I make there, most of my...