In My Words: Is There Ever Enough Time to Write?

So, all you writers out there, here's the question: Are you finding enough time to write?
Me neither.
I've been chatting with a new writer. She has a full time job and a family. With all of her commitments, she has one day a week to write. One day. Recently she asked me this question: Is it possible to be published with such a limited amount of time dedicated to that venture?
My answer?
Sure. Not anytime soon--but maybe sometime in the not-too-near future.
Every writer fights the clock. Every writer confronts the reality that there are never enough hours in the day to devote to writing. You have a family who wants to see you. Or friends. You have to eat (or at least make a couple of pots of coffee.) Pay bills. Exercise. (Really, exercise is not optional.) Sleep. Maybe feed your dog or cat or bird or bearded dragon. Maybe you have a "real" job and your boss expects you to work, not do research on your historical novel set in the 1700s.
It's the whole "real life" versus writing life conundrum.
Here are a few ways I manage the clock:

1. Set the alarm clock earlier than normal. Try an hour earlier. Too early? Try 30 minutes. The extra time is writing time--nothing else.No surfing the Net, no reading email, no updating your Facebook status, no writing tweets. 
2. Set a stopwatch when you're writing. My writing buddy, Lisa Jordan, told me about this great online stopwatch. When I want to stay focused, I set the stopwatch and write until it rings. Nothing else--just write.
3. Shut the door on the "real world."  I'm fortunate to have a home office where I write and edit. Sometimes I leave the door open. This means "Y'all come on in and interrupt me." I can't complain when my 10-year-old daughter comes in to talk. When I shut the door, this means "Do Not Disturb." My family knows someone better need medical care if they open the door.
4. Clear your calendar. Becoming a published writer requires commitment. That means saying yes to writing and no to a lot of other things. Take an honest look at your calendar. Are there things you need to step away from? If you're having lunch with friends two or three times a week, you are losing valuable writing time. I'm not saying don't have friends--but maybe do the "let's do lunch" thing once a week. Or once every other week.
5. Make the world--and everything else--go away. Turn off your phone.Shut down TweetDeck. And Facebook. And your email. Distractions will derail your writing. The limited time you'd set aside to finish that chapter will be gone--and all you've have to show for it is a tweet, an updated Facebook status and a fun conversation with your BFF.

In Your Words: How's the time management working out for you? Do you have any tried and true methods for getting enough time to write?

photo by tuareg/stockxchng.com

In My Words: Time Flies When You're Trying to Write

Where did Wednesday go?
And while I'm asking the question, can someone tell me how the rest of the week disappeared?
I won't say I have nothing to show for this week. It's just that what I have accomplished wasn't on my Writing To Do list.
Did I achieve significant forward motion in my work-in-progress? Um, no. Did I achieve any progress? Not enough to feel good about it.
I've dealt with the usual interruptions: phone calls and laundry and visiting with my kiddos and editing other writers' stuff for my "real" job and commenting on others' blogs and tweeting (social marketing, don'tcha know?) and battling vertigo. For the record, I don't want vertigo to become part of the usual interruptions.
I'm not much of a clock watcher, so I'm always surprised to realize it's 9 o'clock in the evening--time to start wrapping up today and to think about tomorrow. If I was a clock watcher, I'm not so sure the clock in my office would help me keep a handle on the hours in my day.

What do you think?
Does that Writer's Clock aptly depict days in your writing life? Is your day a cycle of Write, Write, Toss, Retrieve, Start Over, Writer's Block, Adult Beverage (just give me a large cherry Coke from Sonic), Write, Submit, Revise, Revise, Publish?
Some days it seems like I'm stuck on Write, Write, Toss. I don't even bother to Retrieve what I've thrown away. I've celebrated the clock hands hitting the Publish mark, but I know enough to realize I'll soon be in the writing cycle again.

In Your Words: How do you handle the hours in your day so that you're satisfied with what you've accomplished when you crawl into bed at night? Any tricks for controlling time so that writing--and revising--doesn't get shoved down to the last thing on your To Do list?