IWSG: December

It's the beginning of December (if you can believe it) so it's time for the Insecure Writers' Support Group to catch up ahead of the holidays.  And here's this month's question:

Let's play a game. Imagine. Role-play. How would you describe your future writer self, your life and what it looks and feels like if you were living the dream? Or if you are already there, what does it look and feel like? Tell the rest of us. What would you change or improve?

Having had a few days off from my day job recently to try and finish NaNo, I think I have a taste of what my life might be like if I had the financial freedom to be a full-time writer, rather than trying to squeeze my own work into pockets of time stolen from other parts of my life.  For me, this would be the dream.  The time to really live within my stories while I'm writing them.

On a regular day at the moment, I might get a couple of hours to write.  One in the morning and one or so in the evening.  And the evening one is often compromised by the exhaustion of the day that came before it.  Or, if I've had a big day of writing at work, I find I often don't have any words left for my own stuff at the end of the day.

Having a full day stretching ahead of me in which to write would be the real luxury. If this was my real life forever (or even for a year or six months) I'd get up just as early as I do now to get all the business side of writing done - replying to emails, blog posts, publicity stuff - before getting the kids up for school.  Then once I got the kids off to school,  I'd go to the gym and get my exercise in before sitting my butt down in my writing chair for the rest of the day.

Last week I did that for two days and wrote 11K.  Imagine how quickly I could finish drafting a book if every day could be spent like that...  I'd be done in just over two weeks.  And that's assuming I might have a few days that are a little less productive than others.

For me, that would be the dream.  To have those hours to immerse myself in my stories and characters and let them come to life on the page.

Unfortunately, I haven't won the lottery.  And the sales of my published books are not enough to allow me the luxury of not working a full-time day job yet.  If ever.  So for now, I have to just accept that my writing life needs to be shoehorned into the rest of my life somehow, and I'm not going to be writing multiple novels per year.  

What would your dream writing life look like?