posted
I assume that most of us here have other obligations that affect our writing time. Some of us have day jobs, some of us have families, many of us probably have both...
How do you make time for your writing? When do you write?
I'm a stay-at-home. I have two sons: one three and one eleven weeks. My writing happens when there's time: when they're sleeping and I'm not, when the older one is playing outside and the younger is sleeping, etc. I think about my stories a lot while folding laundry or making dinner. I've considered writing at a certain, specific time each day, but with the boys (at least at this stage) I'm not sure how practical that is. Flexibility is essential at my house . But no matter what, I try to write every day.
posted
Right now, I've got my time dedicated to writing full time. I'm expecting my first in November, though, and I expect things to be more difficult.
I think life is entirely about priorities. Sometimes writing can be one, sometimes it can't. Different people have to make different sacrifices.
For my part, I don't intend to be a stay at home mom. I intend to be a mom who works at home. Since I'm not making much money off my writing some people may think I'm splitting hairs but the distinction is important to me. I've wanted to be a writer for my entire life. It's my dream. It's my goal. While being a mom is important to me, I don't think I could be a good mom if I neglected that part of my life. I'd be too depressed all the time. I would also be a poor role model for my children, who need to see that you can work hard to achieve what you want in life.
So I will be a mom who works at home -- my job: writing. My hours may need to be flexible. 9-5 is working for me now but it won't soon. I may have to work weekends, evenings, during naptimes, and during "play alone" times.
I may also decide to use daycare on ocassion. My husband and I have learned that some day cares let you pay by the day. He has a coworker whose wife stays at home but drops off their son once a week so she doesn't go completely insane. I'm liking that idea.
Writing is like any other pursuit -- if you take it seriously you will find your time for it. Maybe it's a half hour a day during lunch break or maybe it's for two hours a night after the kids go to sleep or maybe it's on Saturdays between 8 and noon.
It sometimes amazes me how much time people spend just sitting around and watching TV, even with family and kids. I figure, if people have time for that they have time to write.
posted
I used to have a t-shirt that said, "EVERY mother is a working mother."
One of the benefits of having children is that I got used to getting up early in the morning. I now make myself a pot of coffee and sit down for the first couple of hours of each day and write. It's my favorite time of the day - the house is quiet, no one bothers me and my thought process.
I've recently changed jobs, and this one allows me FAR more time in the mornings to write. Sadly, I'm spread pretty thin with other obligations that require my attention too, so I'm realizing I need to set aside part of that time for writing only - no critiques, no responding to email, no web design, no chatting with my co-author friend Michelle on ICQ. Just write. Right?
posted
Well, I'm not a mother (nor will I ever be--you know, being male and all that) and I probably won't have a family for a good 5 years, so I get to write whenever I want. Which is dissapointingly not often... But mostly because I'm in the process of re-writing pretty much EVERYTHING that I have. I also spend a fair amount of time pondering on POV issues, and how to write in third person, but from my character's POV... (hoptoad can take the credit for inspiring this wonderful faction of my life )
[This message has been edited by hopekeeper (edited July 11, 2005).]
posted
I have heard that Tolstoy translated a large body of work by doing it for ten minutes at a time each day while he waited for his water to come to a boil for his morning tea.
I once wrote a short story one Saturday while standing in lines at an amusement park with my kids.
The thing about making time to write is that you learn to use even the smallest bits of time for it. Write while waiting in the car to pick someone up. Write while waiting in line at stores. Write while waiting in the doctor's or dentist's office. And so on.
posted
I work full time, have 3 kids, am active in scouts, and take the kids to music lessons 3 days a week in the evening. I still managed to write over 125,000 words in the last twelve months. That's 1 & 1/3 novels, a published non-fiction article, and at least five short stories.
I write almost all my short fiction on my PDA. If you have the story arc in your head, it's not that hard to write in two minute stolen moments. I generally work on my long fiction after 9:00PM until I'm too tired to make progress. When I'm not posting here, that is.
posted
I agree with the bits of "stolen moments". I wrote a good bit of a novel last year and some short stories this year while waiting for my OB visits. My husband would stay with my three-year-old at home and I'd scribble in my notebook at the doc's.
I also think about what I'm writing while doing dishes, cooking, showering, etc. I think a good part of writing is staring off into space, thinking .
In a lot of ways, reading works the same way for me. I read (and sometimes write) while nursing the baby, and did the same with my first child. Sometimes I triple up. For example, when my oldest is around I've been reading the Narnia books to my children while I feed the youngest. They get time with mom, they get fed, and I get some good reading in, too.
posted
It is amazing what habits can achieve. HSO keeps a notebook with him. It is great for snippets of dialogue heard in the street. Speaking of HSO...
[This message has been edited by hoptoad (edited July 12, 2005).]
posted
I'm a college student on summer break, so writing time is easy to find when I'm not at my day job or with my fiancee. She works nights, like tonight, so since I'm not really wanting to go off to bed right now, what better pasttime is there than writing?
posted
Mary Higgins Clark wrote her first novel as a single mother writing from 6AM to 7AM each morning (you can read about it in her memoir "Kitchen Priviledges," a wonderful book)
Paul Bishop has written and published nine novels writing one hour a day. During the day he's a full-time cop.
I have finished two novels doing the same. I spend about 1-1.5 hours writing before I have breakfast with the family, go to work, sometimes take my lunch hour to write. Once or twice a month I get an block of three hours in the evening. I can get 7-14 hours writing each week this way.
posted
I have a hard time writing in little stolen moments like that. I need to procrastinate for an hour or so, and then sit and type feverishly for an hour or two. I've often wished I could take advantage of stray moments like that but I've never gotten the hang of it.
Posts: 1750 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
Beth -- I know what you mean. I am the same way but I know I will have to change my ways soon.
I'm going to try a psychological trick: Forcing myself to write from the word go. Whatever it is, utter crap, it doesn't matter...I'm going to write when my butt is in this chair. No checking e-mail...no checking message boards...no, "just one quick game of..." I will sit in chair and write utter crap on command, as quickly as I possibly can, and with little adherence to style, grammar, spelling, or content.
From what I've seen, once I do this exercise for a month or so I will be able to actually write because I will have conditioned myself to do so. I'll let you know if it actually works.
posted
I can't do the "stolen moments" thing either - I need to know that I have x minutes of time (and 2 just doesn't cut it).
I have an old laptop that I keep locked up at work, and three or four times a week, I lug it across the street to a public area and set up and write for exactly an hour.
When I first started, I was pleasantly surprised that my procrastinating ways instantly stopped. Boot up, start writing. If I have to daydream or think, I do it on the bus ride home. Hmm, maybe that counts as "stolen moments."
My biggest problem now is actually taking lunch instead of working through it. I need to learn to Just Say No.
posted
I homeschool my kiddos, and so I try to write when they are doing their studies and projects. When they see me write, that's what they want to do, too!
I'm like e-grandma; I go over stories and ideas while doing dishes and other brain-free activities. It certainly makes the tasks more palatable!
posted
I think keeping a notebook with one is a great idea. I've done it for over ten years, even when I was just in school. I never knew when inspiration would hit and I'd need to write it down for fear of losing it.
I know a gentleman via our web journals who writes for an hour in the mornings before work. He writes from something like six a.m. until seven. He also writes on weekends and what not. He's published several short stories, a collection of his short stories, and just sold a novel.
posted
I've done a lot less writing since I started hanging out in here...
Time is a problem, but for me, the real curse is always inspiration. It comes and goes. One week I'll be bashing out a few hundred, or a couple of thousand, words of an evening, no problem. Other times, I'll sit at the keyboard for two ro three hours, trying to write one paragraph that doesn't want to come out.
The advantage of working on so many stories at once (I think, by my reckoning, I have fifteen novels at least in various stages of completion) is that I have a better chance of finding myself in the right mood for a particular character, milieu, or type of event (some days, I write action scenes; some days, dialogue is what's flowing).
The disadvantage is that even though I've got close to a million words written down, there's not really close to anything yet read to publish (the only "finished" work - which still needs a major overhaul of the last six chapters plus a general structural overhaul for pacing and subplots - needs about six other novels to be finished first for it to have the right emotional impact).
Maybe I'll get something published before I die... but maybe I'll need to retire from one of my two jobs first... and I can't afford to do that.
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. But no matter what, I try to write every day.
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