If I understand your question, the life of a writer is very different because his schedule is dictated by his muse. The ability to sit down and write is something that comes and goes and therefor whenever a writer has a good idea he'll probably choose to get to work, no matter what he's doing at the time. This of course is very different from nine to five jobs we know from our Western society.

Another thing to think about is that in a writers life creativity is everything and a writer can use the world as his office. I mean even when he/she isn't working, experiences can be translated into literary ideas that can be used for books. This is quite an amazing ability when you think about it.