Sampling life as a full-time writer

I have a unique opportunity while I am on paternity leave. I can sample what life would be like as a full-time writer. I have taken a month off from the day job to be around the house with Kelly as we acclimate to life with the Little Miss. As we have discovered during her first week home, she definitely seems easier than her brother was, at least at this phase of her life. With the Little Man at school all day, we find the house quiet and I can actually sit down and get some work done. Last week was spent adjusting to our new arrival and the new routine that came along with her, but beginning this week, I planned to sample what likfe might be life if I was a full-time writer.

Without the day job crowding out most of the hours of my day, without having to get up at the crack of dawn or stay up into the wee hours of the night, I can see what it might be like if I were a full-time writer. My plan is to spend as much of each morning writing. Whatever time may be left over I will spend on other related tasks like blogging and keeping up my online presence. But my key curiosity is how much I can manage to do before noon each day.

Granted, this is only a sample of what life as a full-time writer might be like. It is more a test of discipline than anything else. After all, a full time writer depends on his or her production to put food on the table and I have the day job for that. So it is not a real simulation of what it might be like. In all honesty, however, I don’t know that I would ever be productive enough to be a full-time writer. I don’t know that the quality would be there. And, of course, writing short fiction as I do means making a living from being a full-time writing is virtually impossible, even if I sold virtually everything I wrote. I understand that going in. Still, it would be nice to complete this long novelette over the next three week. And if I make efficient use of my mornings, I may be able to squeeze in a short story as well.

I think just being able to write each morning, without being rushed to go into work, will be an interesting experience. Even if the next time that I can reasonably manage to do it is after I retire.