Scheduling Time to Write

Something many new writers (myself included) forget to do is schedule time to write. If you plan on doing this professionally, you must treat it like a job. Not part time either. Writing is a full time job whether you get paid for it or not. Resting on your laurels will not get you on the NY Times Best-Seller list. (Not a personal goal of mine, but an example).

Now, many of us work day jobs. I work a day job myself, so I do understand the struggle to find the time. But I manage. I try to write 1-4 hours per day, depending on work schedule. If I'm off, I aim for four. That sounds like a lot, but I tend to break it up into two sessions to make sure I'm not in front of the computer for ages, or cramping my hand writing longhand.

Yes, I write both ways.Sometimes it helps get me through when I'm struggling. (So do tape recorders, but we'll cover that in Writer's Block, Myth or Truth). I schedule writing for a time when I know I have few distractions. Being a night owl, and generally working in the evenings, I can sleep late so I work well into the wee hours of the morning.

My schedule tends to look like this:

Midnight/2am - 4-6 am Writing

6-2pm Sleeping

2 - 5 - Morning routine of eating, making lunch

5 - 9 (or 1-9 depending on schedule) Day Job

10- 12/2am Decompressing, emailing, Dinner, Shower, Grocery shopping, Projects

If I have opening shifts, rare, then I switch it up and sleep at night and write during the day. Not a common event these days though.

Scheduling is important. If you give yourself time in your schedule to write you are much more likely to write. Sometimes I turn the digital recorder on when I go on lunch, hop in my car and talk things out. Or I write by hand.

There is time in the day for writing if you want it badly enough. Even during the busy season when I'm at work all day six days a week and come home tired, pissed and covered in glitter, I find time to write. Whether it's a few paragraphs at lunch or a few pages while your kids are napping. You can find the time to write.

So write.