10,000 Hours

I am pretty sure I read somewhere that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert on anything. I have spent well over 10,000 hours on my "real job" and I guess I am a bit of an expert. I'm not sure I have spent 10,000 hours on my career as a writer and creator of great stories. I guess it depends on how one decides to spend those 10,000 hours. We could spend them quickly by devoting several hours a week to our craft and hopefully get to the expert level quickly and start getting our "stuff" in front of others.
Or, we could do it slowly...an hour or two a week. It will still take 10,000 hours, but those hours will be spread over decades.
So, what am I saying? If you have a "real job" but are trying to be a writer, artist, movie producer, director or whatever...remember this - If you treat your venture like a hobby, it will reward you like a hobby. If you treat it like it is your life, then the rewards will increase substantially.
Of course one has to have balance with work, family, religion and all that jazz, but the take home message is this - If you haven't spent a few hours working on your stories this week...why not start right now?