March 19, 2010

Getting into the writing habit is difficult, especially in the early years of writing. Our lives are full to overflowing already, so where can we possibly fit in some writing? How can we form a consistent writing habit when our schedules change from day to day, depending on our obligations?

Believe it or not, you have more time to write than you think. Keep a time log, tracking how you spend your time for a few days or a week. If you do, you’ll spot “down” time that you use for other things which could be snagged for your writing.

Redirect Your Time

When my kids were very young, I desperately wanted to write. I realized that instead of catching up on laundry and chores during their afternoon naps, I could write. Instead of making beds and doing dishes during the morning half hour of “Mr. Rogers,” I could write. Instead of thumbing through ragged magazines for twenty minutes every Friday afternoon while my daughter got her allergy shots, I could write.

Bed making and dishes and laundry could be done while little ones milled around. I chose to write instead when they didn’t need me. That “nap-Mr. Rogers-allergy shot” schedule became my writing routine until my youngest went to kindergarten. By that time, Atheneum had published my first five middle grade novels.

Hidden Time

“But I really don’t have any free time!” you might truly think. I challenge you to study your schedule very closely. Everyone has pockets of “down” time during the day. It may vary from day to day, but usually it is consistent weekly. (For example, you may sit in the pick-up line at your daughter’s elementary school every afternoon for fifteen minutes. Instead of listening to the radio, write.)

You might free up some time by doubling up on your mindless activities. Most of us multi-tasked before the word became popular, but if you’re not, try it. While supper is cooking, don’t watch the news; pay those bills or wrap those birthday gifts, and free up a half hour in the evening to write. If you want to write YA novels, listen to those young adult books on tape while you walk your dog. You’ll be doing your “market research” for an hour, freeing up an hour later to write.

Get It in Writing

Write down whatever pockets of time that you discover can be used for your writing. Even if it’s only fifteen-minute chunks, note them. You can write an amazing amount in ten or fifteen minutes at a time-and it adds up. You may find these chunks in the “between times.” You might have a bit of time between when the kids get on the school bus and you have to leave for work. Or between your day job and supper, you may have half an hour that you wait on a child at ball practice. (I wrote a lot sitting in bleachers waiting for children at practice.)

Write all these pockets of time down on a weekly schedule and write it on your daily calendar. Make it a habit. Perhaps on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, you write half an hour before work, plus daily you write fifteen minutes before cooking supper, and Saturday morning you write an hour while the kids watch cartoons. That’s four hours of writing in a week, just in the free bits and pieces. Since many of us started writing while caring for small children and/or holding down a day job, this kind of weekly schedule may be the best you can do for a while.

And that’s fine!

Time-Honored Tradition

The highest percentage of today’s famous, best-selling authors admit that their writing schedules were exactly like this in the early years. But they had that “burning desire to write” too. And that desire is what motivates us to find those pockets of time, give them to our writing, schedule it daily, and follow through.

You can find time to write, whether it’s early morning, during your noon hour, late at night, during commutes, or in catch-as-catch-can bits throughout the day. You must integrate writing into your existing routine for it to work.

Schedules make writing a habit, which in turn makes it a permanent part of your lifestyle.

7 Comments »

1. 

   So, Kristi, you’re saying that my hour spent trying to get to level 13 of a video game is not going to help my writing? What you say is true. My difficulty is in getting myself started on those small chunks. I think, I’ll just get started and have to quit. I need to work on this, because if I don’t get started, I’ll never finish!

   Comment by Jane Healy — March 19, 2010 @ 1:53 pm

2. 

   I still have an article by Sue Grafton where she talks about getting up at 4.30am to write every day – her only spare time with a job and fulltime study at that time. You’re right – we do all have pockets of time for writing but we have to give up other things instead. When the average amount of time people spend watching TV is around 20-24 hours a week, well, that’s a novel in two months right there!

   Comment by Sherryl — March 20, 2010 @ 4:27 pm

3. 

   Jane, you’re so funny. Yes, using those chunks takes getting used to. Actually it was easier when my kids were babies because those chunks were the ONLY times I had. That natural pressure got me moving!

   Comment by Kristi Holl — March 20, 2010 @ 8:22 pm

4. 

   Sherryl, I find those statistics so shocking, don’t you? What a huge amount of wasted time! Even if I didn’t write during that time, think of all the great books you could read in 20-24 hours a week! Yes, we have to give some things up, but some of the things are mindless junk and we won’t be losing anything of quality.

   Comment by Kristi Holl — March 20, 2010 @ 8:24 pm

5. 

   This is going to be an issue come summer, when there’s no school. We just had March Break and I got absolutely no writing done during any day. It was all in the evening – and after a day of fun outside, I did not feel like writing! Not good. One week, all right, I’ll recover. Two months? Yeek.

   I’m going to have to find those pockets during the lovely summer weather when my son’s around all the time, I don’t have quiet, I’m distracted by my garden, constantly going out for walks/to the park/the pool/for ice cream/visiting neighbours/you name it. Guess now is as good a time as any to start figuring that out!

   Comment by Yvette — March 21, 2010 @ 10:21 pm

6. 

   Yvette, now is the BEST time to be thinking about this. It’s something all mothers have to deal with. If you look at the subject list on the left-hand side of this blog and click on these subjects (children, families, holidays, and distractions), you’ll find some helpful tips for writing while your kids are on school vacation.

   Comment by Kristi Holl — March 23, 2010 @ 4:56 am

7. 

   Thanks!

   Comment by Yvette — March 24, 2010 @ 8:02 pm

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website