Hi Madbe,

While I was at work, I was thinking about my writing.  On my breaks, I was writing or taking notes.  By the time I got home, I had a good idea of how I wanted my writing to go.  I would get home from work at 11:30 pm and fix myself a light snack.  Then I would get on the computer and write for a couple of hours while the house was quiet.

I'm not a morning person, but it would be great if you could get a couple of undisturbed hours to write.  If you have kids or family, I know it can be difficult.  Compromise on the work around the house so that you can get an hour or two to write without interruptions.  Make sure that everyone has their own chores to help out around the house.   Develop a routine so that you can have time for yourself.  If you really want to write, you'll find a way to do it, even if you have to put your foot down and tell everyone that nobody bothers me from 9:00 pm to 10:00pm.  Just find out what works for you.  Good luck with your writing.

Bob

Hi.  I work two jobs, including an 8-5 office job and working 2 to 5 nights a week as a stringer for a local daily.  I find that if I wait until I'm done working at night, I have no energy--creative or otherwise--left to write.  What's worked for me is getting up about half an hour earlier than I need to in the morning.  I take my shower, brush my teeth and all those mindless routines while thinking about my latest writing project, then use that half hour extra that I have to get some writing started.  The mindless activities let me get the ideas flowing and the half hour lets me get something underway to work on later in the day.  I try to make sure I at least get a paragraph or two down on the page on the days when the words come hard and on those blessed days when they pour so easily I can't get them down fast enough, I take notes or jot out an outline along with those few gems of sentences that I must hang on to.  I work this part out long hand and keep it handy at work so if another thought occurs to me I can add it (I haven't gotten caught doing this yet but there have been a few close calls...keeping my desk cluttered with work-related papers helps make it less conspicuous).  Then, I spend my breaks and lunch writing, as well as any time I have before my meetings in the evening.  I also make sure to carve out time on the weekend.  Like someone else said, if it's important enough to you, you WILL find the time and make it work, even if all you can manage is half an hour a day.  Good luck!

How to find time for writing.  An interesting question.  In my case the answer is similar to anyone elses.  Everyone has competing interests and obligations that require time to fulfill.  For instance, I have two "finished" novels that need pitching, an unfinished gargantuous story that needs completion, several started stories that need direction and completion, four dogs that need grooming, a large property to care for, an old automobile that is disassembled and could use a cash infusion, a full time job, and a loving wife that deserves attention.

Then there are my hobbies.

So it all comes down to which interest/obligation is less important than writing.  I know when I am against a wall, writing-wise, so instead of wasting time staring at the keyboard I spend a few days working on another project.  It takes nearly two hours to get the grass cut.  That mindless activity gives me a chance to contemplate the next actions in the story, to think about the result of Malissa shooting Earl at the Peace Rally.

I spent all last week writing during every free minute I could find because I was motivated and the words were flowing.  Saturday I decided it was time to undertake a huge home project the wife has wanted completed for two years.  The weekend was spent working on that, with just an hour or so each day for writing. 

There is no magic formula.   "I set aside three hours every morning and have a pot of hackenberry tea at my side.  I usually send the cat to play in the street so she won't disturb me." Such sidebars from authors are interesting (perhaps) but not a roadmap to success.  Each of us has to find the discipline and priority for our writing to fit in with the other complications in our lives.  The caveat is writing has to be a high priority. 

 

 

I make the same resolution every year--something that was instilled in my mind by Alice Orr at Gary Provost's Writer's Retreat Workshop back in the mid-eighties:  One hour a day or one page a a day, except Christmas, your birthday or the religious holiday of your choice (or something like that.  Sorry, Alice.)  I work full-time also, as a legal secretary, and while my husband and I have no kids in our one-bedroom apartment, he likes to watch TV and flip through channels.  I prefer to write in total silence.  On weekends, when neither of us are working, he usually leaves the house to hang out with his friends in order to give me some space.  Unfortunately, there is always housework, laundry, errands, a week of recorded soaps or something else to keep me from sitting down to write.

Therefore, while it gets frustrating, I try not to beat myself up.  I just try to write as often as I can and stay focussed on the present project.

What inspired this writer to sit down and write was the challenge of NaNoWriMo every November. I plan to begin my sixth year at this challenge. It was four years ago that I completed the challenge and proceeded to complete the first draft of a novel in December.

     The problem wasn't the time that prevented me from completion of a started work in progress, it was the procrastination, writer's block, and lack of determination that prevented me from succeeding. With NaNoWriMo, I have written first drafts of two novels, two others near completion, and the brain storm of a new work in progress to be started in two days.

     Writing has not only got to be in the blood, it has to become habit forming...