IWSG: Time

~ J.S. Pailly

Hello, friends!  Welcome to the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, a blog hop created by Alex J. Cavanaugh and co-hosted this month by Liza at Middle Passages, Shannon Lawrence, Melissa Maygrove, and Olga Godim.  If you’re a writer and if you feel insecure about your writing life, click here to learn more about this amazingly supportive group!

Each month, the Insecure Writer’s Support Group asks a question.  The question is totally optional.  Members of the group can choose to answer it in their blog posts, or not.  This month’s question is:

In this constantly evolving industry, what kind of offering/service do you think the IWSG should consider offering to members?

As you know, I love space, but I also love writing (almost as much as I love space).  Unfortunately, love isn’t always enough.  Enthusiasm isn’t always enough.  I have plenty of love and enthusiasm.  What I really need right now is time.  Maybe I’m asking for too much here, but is there any way the IWSG could make the day a little longer?  That’s something I think every writer would appreciate.

I can think of several ways we could do this.  As demonstrated in this comic from xkcd, if we all started spinning counterclockwise, we’d alter Earth’s angular momentum, slowing the planet’s rotation and making Earth’s day just a fraction of a second longer.

Or we could start relocating writers to Mars.  Mars’s rotation rate is already slower than Earth’s, making a Mars day about 36 minutes longer than a day on Earth.  That’s 36 extra minutes for writing!  True, we’d have to deal with the ultra-thin  atmosphere, the scarcity of oxygen, the toxic soil, the radiation, the extreme cold… but think of how much more writing we’d get done!

Another option: a while back, there were rumors that the Large Hadron Collider at CERN (a nuclear physics laboratory in Europe) might cause the accidental creation of a black hole.  That sounds scary, but hear me out: black holes create major distortions in both space AND time.  Could those space-time distortions allow us to make more time for writing?  Maybe!  Or maybe not.  I’m not great at math, so I’m not sure.  Alex, check with a physicist before you try this idea.

In the meantime, I recently negotiated a new work schedule for myself at my day job.  My new schedule is a little weird.  My boss and several of my coworkers were initially confused about why I’d want to work such strange hours.  But my new schedule frees up several hours worth of time, which I can now use for writing.  And I did it without altering Earth’s rotation, moving to Mars, or generating an artificial black hole.  So that’s a win for me!

Unknown's avatar

Published by J.S. Pailly

20 thoughts on “IWSG: Time”

  1. I could really use a black hole right now. 😅 I’d seriously consider relocating to Mars for an extra 36 minutes. It’s not like I have time to go outside anyway, so the environmental factors won’t bother me. 😂 I’m glad the day job is flexible enough to give you some extra hours. Personally I’m looking forward to some upcoming PTO. This current nocturnal writing schedule has me moving like a zombie!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I’ve been working there a long time, so I kind of cashed in on some of the good will I’d earned over the years. I’m not sure they would’ve been so flexible for me when I first started there.

      I used to be more of a night owl writer. Doing my writing after dark was relaxing and peaceful. But that’s not really the case anymore, and I now find I do better writing in the morning. Another reason why I’m changing up my schedule.

      Good luck with your PTO. I hope you get lots of writing done and that you build up some momentum to keep writing after your PTO is over!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Oh yeah, tenure definitely helps!

        Best of luck to you too with the new schedule. I’m looking forward to getting some writing done at a reasonable hour finally!

        Liked by 1 person

  4. I’ve read stories of writers getting up at 4am so they can get their word count in. I once tried something like that for working out; it didn’t last long. But kudos to you for taking the initiative and altering your work schedule to focus on what you care about!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I’ve heard similar stories. Maybe someday, I’ll get to that point. Well, maybe not to the point of getting up at 4 a.m., but writing in the morning has been working for me, so getting up a little earlier might be good for me.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  6. Maybe you should write humor, J.S. I laughed all through this post. I take comfort in the thought that somewhere in the multiverse I am a bestselling author! Enjoy IWSG Day!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. That would help us to accomplish a lot as writers if we could alter time to make more of it and not seriously mess up anything that can jeapardise existence or any important events in history or even in the future.

    I’m glad you were able to reschedule your hours at your day job to make better writing time!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  10. OK, so I’ve read very few suggestions made in answer to this month’s question, but yours definitely wins the prize for the most creative and interesting of them all! Bravo James 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment