A few years ago, it was not uncommon for patients to wait for hours to see their doctor. The condition was chronic and getting worse. Finally, a patient, who was also a business man, billed his doctor for his time spent waiting. Lawsuits began popping up, asking for damages from physicians for failing to see the patient at the scheduled time. Others took their protest to the media. In the end, physicians got the message and began to operate more efficiently.
Better practices aside, there is still an amount of wait time for patients and their families when visiting the office of a medical practitioner. My husband’s appointment today is a case in point. He needs physical therapy a couple of times a week.
I knew I would be sitting for half an hour while he was getting treated. I decided to take my laptop computer with me. While my husband met with his physical therapist, I worked on an action scene from my novel.
Granted, this technique will not work for everyone.
I sat in the corner of the waiting room farthest from the television. Even so, a family with an active toddler soon sat right next to me. Fortunately, I can tune out surrounding sound and focus on my writing when I know where the story is going. Describing the action scene kept me focused. If I were in a creating rather than telling mode, the distractions would have annoyed me. Then the noisy waiting room would not have been conducive to storytelling.
Applying a bit of creativity to time management, I eked out 30 minutes from a fully scheduled day to write. In that oasis of “found” time, I produced 375 words.
Fay Moore: I Want To Be a Writer 