How much better is silence; the coffee cup, the table. How much better to sit by myself like the solitary sea-bird that opens its wings on the stake. Let me sit here for ever with bare things, this coffee cup, this knife, this fork, things in themselves, myself being myself.   ~Virginia Woolf

I’m an advocate of alone time, and nothing soothes me more than walking in nature or sitting at the keyboard composing a story. An extrovert I am not, and solitude energizes me.

But when my grandson started kindergarten at a school three miles from my house, and my husband quickly volunteered the two of us to pick him up everyday, I wondered if I could afford to lose that time in my already packed schedule. Sure, we could switch off days, but still, that school line of cars meant a solid hour or more out of my day. . . with nothing productive to show for it.

The first week I arrived 45 minutes ahead of schedule, parked in line, and tackled editing a manuscript that was already on a tight deadline. Before I knew it the cars started moving, and I had completed a major chunk of the document. The week after that, I had a book to read for book club. Again, time flew and mission accomplished.

Yet another time, I needed to jot ideas for the next book on my plate. Radio off, an autumn day outside, I shut off the truck, opened the windows, and daydreamed thoughts to my paper.

On a Facebook post recently, someone mentioned they only wrote during certain parts of the year when their day job was less hectic. Someone else complained to me that they struggled getting their writing gears lubricated and functioning, fussing that for fifteen minutes they struggled getting even a sentence down.

My challenge to you is to own the pockets of time you have. Even create pockets of time amidst the chaos that is your life. Not only does it soothe you, but it enables if not empowers you over time. Dare yourself to sink into the writing and reading world when you are doing little more than waiting in line. Instead of it being a waste of time, make it quality time. You’ll start looking forward to it. And you’ll start owning those minutes. Soon you will have accomplished more than you ever imagined.