Writing is a job. It may look like a hobby to people who don’t know any better, but it’s a job, and a demanding one at that. You have to make time to write daily or at least a few times a week if you don’t want to find yourself behind. The problem is that some of us have our 9 to 5 jobs, and some of us are stay-at-home moms, while all of us have a house to clean and people, young or not, to keep in line. And that’s without taking into consideration the social life we have–and want.

I admit it’s not easy for me to make the time to write. Even though I love creating worlds and heroes and have them fall in love and be jealous, frighened, hurt until they reach that pot of HEA at the end of the rainbow, life gets in the way and I find myself staring at the screen forcing my fingers to type. Most often than not, I find reasons not to write because I’m too tired by all the other stuff going on to pull up my novel’s world from the archives of my mind.

I’ve found though that I work better under pressure and when I have people check up on me. If I’m given free rein and told “that’s okay, Lisa, don’t push yourself to finish the story. You’ll get there,” I’ll never get there. I need to have a short-term goal, something I can grasp, something real to keep me going and unfortunately the possibility of a contract doesn’t cut it.

So, do you have the same problem, and if yes, how do you fight against the torturous too fast ticking of the clock?