Chatelaine: Most of us 'would be' writers can find the odd half hour here and there in which to write so I don't think you have to weigh up your business with writing and decide it's one or the other. The shop must give you lots of interesting ideas for your writing I would imagine...
Sounds like the 'off-loading' element would be useful so ten minutes furiously writing everything down at the end of the day would be 10 minutes well spent.
Do you think its a common misconception that we need lots of spare time to write? I know it stops me - but those who are most successful say they had to carve out bits of day here and there (someone said they got up early, someone else wrote on the train home, someone else while the dinner was cooking etc.)and piece it altogether. Personally, my excuse is that I hate to be stopped mid-flow but that excuse means I don't get so much done as I don't have those big chunks of time that I think I need...what do you think?