The Everyday Writer

Photo by Mark Duffel on Unsplash

I have never been an everyday writer. There are brief periods of time when I write every day, but when the project is finished or the monthly writing challenge wraps up, I simply stop.

The intention is always to take a short break and then begin again, but sometimes it’s months before I start something new, at which point I write furiously, devoting entire days to my work.

This needs to change, because come August I no longer have the luxury of entire days. When my kids return to school, I will be joining them.

I’ve long wanted a part-time day job but refused to compromise when it comes to my children’s schedules. It’s important to me that I’m available to take them to school, pick them up, and be with them for their holidays off, which include several weeks throughout the school year in addition to summer vacation.

That basically left me one option—get a job with the school district—and finally I found one with the perfect schedule, working four hours a day in student support at an elementary school. I volunteered weekly in the classroom when my kids were younger, and I’ve missed everything about it. I am so excited.

I’m also nervous. Because now my writing time has been slashed from four hours a day to one. Because now there’s no making up for lost time. The only way to produce any reasonable amount of work is to break my pattern of writing in irregular bursts and instead write a little every day.

The idea has its charms. I’ve always pictured the everyday writer as someone who wakes at dawn to steal moments while his family sleeps or visits the same café each morning to fill a page or two before rushing off to her day job.

I treasure sleep, so the former will never be me. However, I can clearly visualize the latter, and with such limited time I believe it’s essential that I write away from home. I even have a coffee shop in mind.

A place free from the lure of laundry, cleaning, and checking email. A place with dim lighting and quiet corners and cheap drip coffee. A place that isn’t quite home but could still become mine—a sanctuary for the everyday writer.