Snatches of Time by Andy Scheer

Snatches of Time by Andy Scheer

I'm not counting on it, but I hope I'll have the luxury of an uninterrupted half-hour to write this. I'd hoped to find time at the keyboard this morning, but that was before my biggest editing client asked me to drop everything and fix a problem that had arisen. That took until just after noon.

With the late start, I needed until 4 p.m. to finish and submit the big editorial project I'd planned to complete this morning. Another project I've yet to start is due in just under a week, and I know that will take about eight hours.

Fortunately I have most of the research in place. All I need is eight hours. Where I'll get those hours I don't know; most of the next four days are packed.

I could fantasize and say I'll put my netbook on the tray table during my upcoming flights from Denver to Chicago and back. But have you ever tried to write on an airplane? If you've succeeded, you're shorter, smaller, and more dedicated than I am. Seated in the back of a packed flight, I'm lucky if I can enjoy a paperback.

More realistically, I'll have to use those three or four hours in my hotel room Monday night after dinner. (After that, I can catch up with my email.) Then Tuesday morning I can grab another three hours between breakfast and when I have to catch a ride to the airport. That's six or seven hours—almost done. Tuesday evening after driving home and unpacking, I can fire up my computer and invest the final hour or two.

Nobody ever said meeting deadlines—your own or those imposed on you—is easy. But in this business if you want to succeed, it helps to be able to make use of those little snatches of time.