Stealing the time to write

Some quick thoughts on writing and time (I know, my obsession) today:

I'm always reluctant to say to people "oh, you just have to make the time" too bossily, because the fact is I do not have a husband or children or invalids to care for or physical illness, and these are things that take time and energy away from individual creative pursuits and there's no way of getting around that or willing it away with the power of positive thinking. You do have to make the time, to steal it back for yourself, if you want to write, because there will always be other people making demands of you, but honestly, truly, the only person who can assess just how feasible that is in your current situation – if it is genuinely something you can do without devastating other parts of your life – is you.

But I do think that if you are in a situation where you absolutely cannot make the time, if you genuinely-truly-when-you-really-think-about-it-and-are-honest-with-yourself don't have the choice to steal bits of time for your own creativity, twenty minutes here and there, that it is not good for you. That it's damaging, not 'normal', not 'just how things are for everyone', and that – whether you were to end up using time for yourself to write or to do anything else – it's a situation where it is really worth asking for help, if you can, where and when you can.

I want to say as a general rule, no one reading this is in that situation, but then again, I don't know. I don't know your situation, the particular circumstances, the stresses and pressures and demands of your life. I don't know just how bad it is. My point is, I guess, that it's pretty damn bad if you really-genuinely-truly can't find any time to write ever. 'Cause most of us? We can. We really-genuinely-truly can. It is not something that requires drastic lifestyle choices, quitting jobs and abandoning our lives. It's seeing little pockets of time and using them in a focused way. That's all it is. Writing doesn't have to take over your life to fit into it.