The Challenges of Writing Full Time

Every writer fantasies about being able to write full time. They dream of waking up, shuffling down the hall in the pj’s with their coffee, their cat in tow, and settling into a fruitful encounter with their computer. At the end of the morning, they will be amazed at how brilliant they were that day. They will be proud of the clever way their characters behaved and congratulate themselves on their precise word choices.

That is a lovely dream.

But the writing life, despite the characters one creates, can be a lonely one. The writer intentionally removes distractions from their own life but then finds themselves craving an interesting external encounter.

Can I add spice to my life without getting distracted?

Validation for the work done that day becomes important. Did I spend the entire day writing gibberish? Or, I haven’t been able to focus on my writing for weeks, does it mean I am lazy.
Writing is a long term project. Validation from others is slow coming. There are many days a writer wonders what in the hell they are doing. Did I fall down Alice’s rabbit hole or am I just sinking?