Someone once told me that when I retired I'd have all the time in the world to focus on what I really wanted to do. It doesn't seem to have worked out like that. I seem to run out of day before I've run out of things that need to be done. I make a point of trying to dedicate a specific time each day to writing. But I find that often that time gets shifted, because there is a need to go somewhere, or do something at the time I have set aside. OK, so change the schedule - I do, but often that doesn't quite work either since I tend to work out a scene or a story or some aspect of the story - and I need to get it down on paper or on the screen immediately, while its fresh in my head.
Often that is where things go adrift, by the time I get to my keyboard - some key detail is gone. That usually means I have to spend a lot of time working my way backward to try and recapture the idea, image or concept. Sometimes it works, other times I find a different solution. To complicate this, I'm finding that I have three projects on the go at present, obviously all at different stages of development. It works for me since I can switch to a different 'story' if I get a block on the one I'm writing at that point. It sometimes provides a way forward for whichever project I'd got stuck on.
So, why do I now need a 48 hour day?
Simple. A few weeks ago someone connected with the fil industry wrote that my "Harry Heron" books should be made into films. I contacted him and discussed the means of achieving this. I'm a realist, I know this isn't going to be a case of "here's a load of money, we'll make a movie out of it." So I learned how to prepare a script, how to "sell" it to an agent or a movie financier, and a whole lot more. Now I need to make it happen, it certainly isn't going to do it all on its own. So, since two of my three projects have no deadline and are largely for my own interest and amusement, they're going on "hold" for the forseeable.
For the next few months I'll be writing a script and nursing "A Baltic Affair" through to publication. As Captain Oates remarked - "I may be a little while." But this is something I simply have to do.