Time will cut you down

You know the thing about writing is it's tough. Inspiration isn't real hard for me, but doing the actual writing, putting the words together, that's the hard part. Over the past 5 years or so I've written some pretty varied material from sci-fi and fantasy to transgressive type fiction and even political articles.

The main thing is time.

Time to just sit and think about what I want to say, how to turn an idea that may or may not have any worth into something readable. I think this is the most prevalent problem facing me as a writer, but I think our society makes time difficult. Everything has become so constant now, constant updates, constant stimulation, that it becomes difficult to break off and actually get things accomplished that take more than a few minutes. Reading books, actually sitting down and listening to music, just walking around and letting silence fill the void of existence.

A certain place I lived at college had a shuttle bus that took me to campus every day. The ride was about 15 minutes or so, but it was usually 15 minutes in which I could just sit back and listen to music without being bothered by anything else (except of course the occasional really annoying girl that felt it necessary to pour out her problems to the bus driver, who I felt very sorry for). I actually looked forward to this time to myself. I was waiting to get somewhere, but at the same time it didn't matter to me because I had my music and my thoughts and that was more important than where the bus was going.

Similarly, if I want to write I find that I am forced to have a time of nothing but writing and thinking. Sitting down with a notebook, a pen, and a beer. In this day and age that can be difficult, but it isn't a lost cause.