Tuesday morning I had an appointment with an orthopedist (the reason for my absence here) and filling out the forms in the waiting room I came across a question as to my profession. I wrote “writer.” Then I was asked “part-time” or “full-time.” After giving it some thought, I checked the “part-time” box. These days I write only when I get an idea for something; I don’t write every day. But I never wrote every day, even when I had a full-time job as a writer/editor. And even writers who do write every day usually write for only part of the day – mornings for instance. Most writing – most good writing – requires such intense concentration that only several hours of it at a stretch are possible. The rest of the day is spent in research, or reading, or editing what they’ve previously written. Which is to say, all writers are part-time writers.
