We all have the same amount of time each day of the workweek (Monday to Friday for most of us) to do what we must do. 24 hours. During that time, we have to sleep, of course. For most of us, sleep requires at least 6 hours, leaving us with 18 hours to do what we must do.

Day job? Sigh. Yes.

There’s another 8 hours or so (give or take) scratched off the old clock, leaving us with 10 hours to do what we must do. If you’re like me and have kids, you might have to get them up, dressed, fed and off to school. That takes at least 2 more hours from your day, leaving you just 8 hours to do what you must do. Then there’s cleaning, errands, dog walking, and all the fun stuff that being a grownup involves. Let’s take off another 3 hours for that. What are we left with? Just 5 hours. Hmm. Oh, let’s not forget eating, socializing so folks think we’re normal, and showers. What’s that? 2 more hours? Yeah, let’s go with 2. So, we have 3 hours left out of our Monday to Friday to do what we must. Just 3 measly hours.

If you’re an author who has published a book, you also have to allow some time for marketing on the Internet. And we all know what a dark abyss that can be. Let’s say you’re a good girl and give it 30 minutes at most, with another 30 minutes for email answering and whatnot. Now you’re left with 2 hours to do what you must do.

Even if I’ve underestimated some of the time you need for these grownup tasks, it’s likely most of you still have at least 30 minutes to an hour unaccounted for, and that’s plenty of time to do what you must do.

And what is it that you must do?

Write, of course.

Even with a busy day, full of all the things normal people do, we still have 1 to 2 hours of free time every day where we could be writing. I say “could be,” because sometimes shit happens and we choose to use the time differently. Meh, we deserve some Netflixing and shopping therapy occasionally.

I’ve been terrible lately, bitching about not having any time to write, but the reality is I’m just letting myself get bogged down by procrastination and bullshit. I haven’t even factored in Saturday and Sunday, which, at least every other week, could be a full 8 hours of solid writing time.

My point?

Let’s not complain about time, when all we have to do is take it by sitting our ass in the damn chair. No, don’t make it complicated, you Negative Nancy. Just sit. Write.