I know I’ve mentioned schedules before. I also know how often writers complain about their day jobs and how much they’d get done in only they didn’t owe so much time to something else. Having now been on both sides of that equation, I’m here to tell you something.
It ain’t necessarily so.
Something always fills the time. Something always demands it. If it’s not the day job, it’s something else. I’m not going to be specific here because those “somethings” are going to be different for everyone. The point is, writing time always was and always will be time you’ve made for yourself. Odds are no one’s going to give it to you. I personally found that having a day job forced me to be very careful about how I budgeted my time and encouraged me to use what I had wisely. All that went out the window and for a while now I admit I’ve been flailing, thinking I had all the time in the world when that simply wasn’t true.
Took me a while, but I finally get it. I still haven’t totally worked out what I’m going to do about it, but I have some ideas I’m trying out now. One of them might even work. We’ll see. At least I’ve finally recognized the problem, which is the same one any mortal has, day job or no.
Time.
Richard Parks 
I’m retired and have found that scheduling and some goal for each day, even if trivial, make me happier.
On a different topic: will you write something about the statue – Buddha? – shown on the heading?
and for laughs ask Cortana about the picture.. one of the odder matches is Miss Piggy 🙂
Oh, that. It’s a Hotei (God/Buddha of happiness and bartenders). One of the salesmen at my old job brought it back from a trip to China. I keep it nearby as a reminder, though of happiness or bartenders tends to vary.
I know what you mean. Pretty much every moment I spend writing is stolen from something else with a legitimate (often better) claim to it. Definitely a time bandit!