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How do I make time for writing?
Aspiring writers often wonder how they can make time to write?
And rightfully so…
With all of the responsibilities we have as adults it does seem impossible to fit a writing schedule into an already busy day.
However, I’m of the mindset – if you really want it, you’ll make time for it!
Since I’ve been an adult, I’ve always had a busy schedule. Why? Because I’ve been busy doing what life demands of me like working, being a mom, going to school AND pursuing my dreams.
I can’t think of a period of time throughout my life where I wasn’t pursuing a passion in some way. There were times in my life where I was busier than I am now, yet I ALWAYS found time for my passions.
There have been days when I came home from a STRESSFUL day at work, cooked dinner, spent time with my son, ran a blog, got ready for work the next day and then wrote for four hours. Weekends where I holed up in my room, because my characters were speaking to me and I couldn’t let the inspiration pass by. Mornings I went to work on two hours of sleep because I had come too far not to finish. Days where I was downright tired of my manuscript because I’d read it THAT much.
If you read my blog regularly, you’ll know I only write when I’m inspired. I don’t force myself to write and because of that and my many responsibilities it took me two years to write the manuscript for The Buzz. I’m in awe of writers who are able to write everyday and I wish I could do the same… but when I do feel inspired, I write no matter what. Even if that means, little sleep, cramming writing into my already busy day, or anything in between.
So how do you make time for writing?
Use whatever small window of opportunity you have until you complete your manuscript. If you have thirty minutes while your baby is down for a nap, take it! An hour while your son is at soccer, take it! A lunch break at work, take it! You’ll be surprised at how much you can get accomplished.
If you don’t have time to actually write…
Jot down plot twists, ideas for new characters, and ways to expand the story. When you do have time to write, you’ll have an idea of how to get started instead of staring at a white page 
.
As you start to see what you’ve written, its easier to get to the end. And I’m speaking from experience. The closer I got to finishing my manuscript, the easier the writing became because I knew that I was thisclose to being done.
When do you make time to write? Do you feel your schedule is too busy to fit in writing? Please share in the comment section below.
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The one thing we cannot change is life but in reading this it occurred to me that the title says so much, we make the time, it is not always given to us, days don't always fall into neatly sliced slots, we make time for the things that are important. It really does not matter whether we "make" 10 minutes or 4 hours at a time, we make the time so that we progress to our goal. Thanks for the inspiration!
Exactly Karen! Even if its baby steps its better than nothing. I think this can apply to most things in life.
Sometimes I find myself rushing through time with my family in the evenings because I want to get to the computer to write. Or, I'll tell the kids I'll only be on the computer for an hour and I'll be on the computer for 3 – 4 hours. Sometimes I get the balance right and sometimes I don't. I'm still working on it…but all in all, it's a blessing to have many things that I love and in which I want to invest my time. I can remember a time when that was not the case!
Very true! Balance is important!
And to be honest sometimes there will be an imbalance as well.
If you have 24 hours in a day and can only take one hour for yourself, that's not necessarily balanced, but its something
And that time may mean just as much as if you'd taken three or four hours because it was unexpected and needed.
I always make time for me! That's why I've continually pursued my passions throughout my life. I didn't always have the same amount of time available, but I made use of the time I had.
Give yourself permission to accept whatever time available! And eventually you'll recognize more and more time.
My greatest writing tool when I was working full time, my husband was in school full time and doing two jobs and I was the only one at home to look after my daughter, was my iPod. I wrote about 1/3 of my novel on the notes app on my iPod. During lunch breaks, on the bus, in the line at the grocery store. I'm fortunate to have a pretty physically repetitive job and can go over plot details in my head while I'm working. I can't say how many times I rushed through a client so I could go write down the revelation that had just popped up in my head. Now my husband is done school I get to work less at my day job so I can have a writing schedule. But I still write at night when my daughter and husband are in bed and my characters are never far from my mind.
I just purchased an iPod touch and I’m finding it useful for that as well.
I'm a bit of a binge writer. I have weeks when I'm writing constantly and fallow periods when even editing sems a herculean task. I think I'm just plain lazy most of the time and I need a kick up the butt(metaphorical and physical) to send me on my creative way. A famous writer once said to me " It's better to write something even if it's absolute crap." Writing is something you never forget how to do, but it's whether you want to do it to the best of your ability that's the question you have to ask yourself. I'm a blogger and short story writer too – maybepoet47.blogspot.com
Simon, I can totally relate to binge writing.