Hmm...tell me...how do you do it?

I have been hustling up work in an effort to support my habit...novel writing. Writing a novel takes a long time, it's as simple as that. And even though people say things like "you will write your second one faster..." what they really mean was faster than the last, which really isn't all that comforting. It took me over 3 1/2 years to write my first novel. True, once I knew what I was doing I got faster and wrote the bulk of it in the last year and a half. But the truth is, it takes as long as it takes. Sometimes characters or ideas need to swirl around the edges of my brain, like blurry figures in the distance, taking shape every now and then and whispering something to me, before they retreat again for days or weeks or months. Sometimes a flash of a scene stays with me, the middle of it, not the beginning or the end, just a fragment, like a dream that you can't quite remember all of, and tries to leave you upon waking.

I guess what I am really saying is, you can't rush it. It takes time, and everyone knows, time is money. Thankfully I have a terrific copywriting gig and am doing some freelance work, but I am always fascinated by what other writers and artists do in between the big paydays. I know of one writer who was a dog walker and another who uses part of her home as a B&B..what about you?