I have hobbied a fair bit in my single days but recently got married. Now I find it very hard to break away unnoticed. The stars have to be in alignment in order for me to hobby !  

So I am thinking to try the "shot gun" approach to contacting providers. But what happens if all reply saying they can see me? Will I burn any bridges if I say someone else already replied sooner?

last minute IMHO. It really helps when you're a repeat customer and don't care who's behind the door.

once discovered by providers. Yes, providers talk and compare notes. This may get you on either a sh*t list or possibly blackballed in your home turf.

Not the answer I was hoping for, but it makes sense. I suppose I need to resign myself to the fact that I need to be very patient .. Might take weeks/months for all the stars to be in alignment!

... to help you align those stars more frequently.

That is... take up an activity/hobby or schedule a "business meeting" or do *something* else to excuse your absence from home for the required time.  

Send me a PM and I can send some info.

that would allow you to hobby on the side. Your spouse shouldn't be on you 24/7. Whether that's taking an extra long lunch break at work, finding a plausible hobby (going to the gym, golf, etc.), having a morning or evening "business appointment".  There has to be breaks in the day where your spouse is not around for you to hobby

Now if none of the above work (perhaps your work doesn't allow for meetings or longer unquestioned lunches), then I would suggest to start taking up some activity or volunteer work of interest. Go slowly at first and then increase your involvement in it. Eventually your spouse becomes less suspicious when you are partaking and suddenly you'll find yourself with free time to hobby

I do agree with others that sending out 20 E-mails to a list of providers requesting a short notice appointment and accepting the first one who responds back will ultimately come back to bite you in the proverbial ass (and not in a good way). It may be fine for a time or two, but if you keep contacting the same ladies and then don't end up seeing them, they won't look kindly on you for future requests.

Here is how I go about contacting providers for a same day session. First off I book almost all my appointments via P 411. P411 has a couple of features that are VERY helpful for short notice appointments. One of them is the "available now" section, the other is the ability to see when the lady last logged on and if she is currently "online"

 
Here is what I do. I typically look down the "Available Now" section and find a girl I am interested in and then I send her a short PM, not an appointment request. In my PM I say something like this;

"Hi my name is GaG, you look beautiful, I know this is short notice and if you can't accommodate me I completely understand, but I would love to see you, today if possible. Please feel free to check out my profile and okays before getting back to me. Since this is very short notice, I am more than willing to work around your schedule today if you can find an hour or two to see me. Can't wait to hear from you, and did I mention I think you are gorgeous?  BTW if today is not possible, I would still love to see you sometime, please feel free to do whatever screening you like to do and perhaps we could see each other another day"

 
After I send this message, I wait a while to see if she has read my message, (another great feature of P 411 that we should have here on TER). If she does read it, usually the next thing I see is her checking out my profile, and hopefully responding back to me. Now a lot of the time the lady doesn't even read the PM for hours and I don't like to put all my eggs in one basket, so while I am waiting for her to respond, I try to find a plan B, or even a plan C,D or F. I usually wait 15 minutes or so for her to at least read my message before reaching out to another provider. I would say my rate of success in finding a non agency girl with only a few hours notice is about 60%. If you want numbers higher than that, an agency is your best bet, and if I strike out in the indy pool, I have no issues about calling one of the agencies I know, but not everybody likes agencies.

SO. My other hobbies are drinking and riding motorcycles. Perfect excuse to get away for this hobby.  

"I'm going to the bar to watch the game"

"I'm taking a ride out to the island"

I'd shoot myself if I was with my SO 24/7 and she with me.

Read this post while sitting at the bar this afternoon and figured I'd give it shot. Went on 411 and did a online now search (never used that feature before) Lo and behold, a slew of providers popped up. Wound up shooting a provider on the list who I already seen before a message,

"Hey, I know it's really late notice but are you available today"

She responded right away. Turned out I was at her place within an hour and had a blast. Thanks!