Writing looks a lot like loafing.

I need lots and lots of space surrounding my writing.

Yesterday was an interesting day.

I'd reached a point in the book where I didn't know where to go next.   So I decided to devote the day to working out a plot for the rest of the book.

It came in tiny little snippets.  One after another.  Sometimes with hours between ideas.  One little idea at a time, slowly constructing, being plucked from my mind.  Sometimes I had a specific problem that needed to be addressed and I waited for an answer.  Other times, something simply came to me.

But by the end of the evening, I had a good part of the rest of the book worked out, at least enough to keep going.

It didn't seem like I was doing much all day.  I mean, altogether I doubt the actual amount of time I took writing down the ideas was more than an hour.  But I spend 12 hours doing it.  I need lots and lots of space surrounding my writing. 

Every time an idea comes, it has to feel right.  It has to fit with the rest of the elements.  I still have a couple of problems, but I'm going to wait for them to resolve.  Maybe by sleeping on it.  They don't have to be addressed for a few chapters, so I'm hoping something will come to me by then.

But there is a pleasing symmetry to the plot, that feels right, that feels big enough to be the climax of three books.

Anyway, the space I need for writing is something on the order of 4 to 1.  That is, for every hour that I'm actually typing, there are 3 hours when I'm mulling.  When you include the fact that I can't have any major activities until after I'm finished, the space grows even wider.

The reason I've been so productive is that I don't do much of anything else.  Everything is sliding; cleaning the house, doing repairs, taking care of chores, gardening.  None of that is happening.

I'm reading less, watching less TV, going to movies less often, not going on drives, or any other activity.  I goof off playing solitaire, laying on my back thinking -- often falling into a nap -- getting snacks, and so on.

Not exactly a healthy way to live.

The biggest difference -- that only thing that allows me to write -- is having more time off from work.  That had to come first.

I don't know how other writers do it -- but I seem to need that space to get anything accomplished.