While there is nothing more important to writing that time spent in the chair, there is another, more elusive, component to the creative process. For someone as compulsively driven as I am, this second part is often tougher. Time away. It takes a little prodding (and sometimes force with a crowbar) to pull me from my writing. But time away, fresh air, a little sweat—these are as vital to my writing as the dedicated computer time.