Between working Graveyard, sleeping, and trying to spend time with my wife and three young boys it seems I never get anytime to write. Every week I tell myself that this weekend I will write, then here it is my Monday and I am back to work without having put nothing on paper.

I thought when I get a job on the graveyard shift it would help, since I can get a lot of research, and internet time at work. But, I find it doesn't help at all.

2. Keep writing. The more you write the easier it gets the more productive available time becomes.

3. Give whichever job you value most, your best time. If you're working two jobs and are better in the morning, get up early enough to write before the day-job.

Unfortunately I sacrifice other things in life like exercise and spending time with my wife. (the night before when I'm tired from having gotten up so early.)

But I want to do this thing and I will tolerate these sacrifices until I either make it somewhere or give up the dream.

As said before, nothing works for everybody.

If you have time to do research, write something and E-mail it to yourself. Several paragraphs every now and then make a bit difference. They add up to a lot of writing over time. I used to have just an hour on Sunday to write and sometimes lost that time, but it helped work on several pieces.
I now have changed my schedule around and have two hours most days.

Some people research everything, plan out the details and then write. That sounds like the type of writer you might be. Nothing wrong with that.
I am the kind of person who writes and then does research if there is a problem or when done, (if then). I get the story written and then figure out how to fix it to make it work.
You may need to change your writing style to fit the schedule and situation you are working on. Blasting out garbage might be the way to get the story written.

There's two aspects to the question:
(1)time to write and
(2)efficiency while writing.

My boys are now able to sleep till 6:30, so I can wake up at 5:00 every morning and after getting ready I have a good 45+ min to write. Any other time in the evenings and weekends right now is bonus time, which I can typically get a couple hours here and there.

To improve efficiency, I am doing two things. First of all, I think of the exact sentences or actions I will write when I have a chance to get in front of a computer. For instance, in the shower I will go over an upcoming scene in my head. When I am at the computer, I hit the ground running.

The second thing I do is always have the next short story in mind before I finish the previous one. This also requires contemplation and planning in the spare or mindless moments of the day. I also have a middle grade novel that I need to rewrite if an idea doesn't come to me.

Oh yeah... editing to add another thing -- Eliminating time killers is another thing. For me it is posting on the internet (which I now do from my phone and leave the computer to writing). I've pretty much eliminated TV, except for a few shows that my wife and I will watch during dinner over the internet. I love movies, but rarely watch them anymore. I don't believe in sacrificing family time, so I don't seek to gain any extra writing time there..

Somehow, though, it's easier when I get "inspired." This month, for example, once my cold cleared up, I've been busy with revising two stories, one after the other, more words-per-session than I usually do, two or three times a day. All that in spite of distractions like work, the internet, and this DVD set of "Ellery Queen" that I stumbled across a couple of weeks ago and have been watching constantly since then. That doesn't happen that often, and things drag down and I don't "get to it" every day.

--unless writing is your primary profession and means of providing for your family.

I believe writing should be fun: selecting the right words to evoke the images and moods you desire; developing interesting characters who have interesting problems; finding ways to make your stories and characters memorable--like the tingle of peppermint that lingers on the tongue long after the mint has dissolved.

This is why I am least likely to be a professional writer.
The biggest turnoff for me in regard to being a professional author, the greatest creativity killer, is all the tsouris [trouble] associated with becoming published: query letters and outlines and synopses, paper and electronic submissions, copyright permissions for quotes, etc. consume inordinate amounts of time. Time I'd rather just write.

Perhaps I'll be published posthumously--kein en hora (avert the evil eye)--like ISLANDIA author Austin Tappan Wright; or the best-selling THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO author Steig Laarson.
Perhaps not.

For whatever your reasons, write for your own pleasure.
Everything else is a bonus.

Just my humble opinion.

Respectfully,
Dr. Bob

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Whatever you do or do not do, don't schvitz unless writing is your primary profession and means of providing for your family.

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I have thought about getting a blackberry so I can write while waiting in line at the bank or doc's office. Etc...

I have nearly given up on weekends. Every time I think I have time on weekends, I never do. If I can slip in an hour, I will. Here I its 9 PM and hope to write, but truth is I cant keep my eyes open(Duel birthday party for the little ones-16 kids over, and we went sledding, a lot of fun, but man, I am beat)

Not to worried. I will write for 30 minutes at least.

I though getting up at 6 was bad enough...somehow since the Corps I can't get out of bed as quickly...but looks like I'm a pansy. But I too have a young and growing family (about five months till my first new chapter arrives).

But my contribution would be something I realized in the last couple weeks. It's ok, if you never get published. You have to have faith that the years the locusts have eaten will be restored. Otherwise, you'll squeeze the life out of the time you have. And for what?

Besides, it is the life you live and take in that is what inspires your creativity, not raw determination and sleep deprivation.

I say that because otherwise you'll get stressed about all the time you're not writing (like I am often tempted to do) and then you'll poison the life you are given and then what will become of your creativity?

Practical side, it's already been said. The consistancy of your writing practice will yield more efficient writing. If you only get 20 minutes, that 20 minutes will become increasingly fruitful.

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Some people research everything, plan out the details and then write. That sounds like the type of writer you might be. Nothing wrong with that.
I am the kind of person who writes and then does research if there is a problem or when done, (if then). I get the story written and then figure out how to fix it to make it work.

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I write first too. By "research" I mean play around on the internet. Usually I find little bits of information that translate to an idea for a story.

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(I can tell you, from working most of the last twenty years in the middle of the night, that working the night shift is not what it's cracked up to be. For one thing, I'm tired all the time---I nod off on my breaks at work all the time, and on my days off I sleep deep into the night. It doesn't free up any more time for writing. And, most of all, it's hard to convince anyone that just because you're there during the day, you're available for whatever.)

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Tell me about it. I am always tired and on my days off I sleep up to 14 hours or more. Then next thing I know I am back at work again. And my Dad has worked nights for as long as I can remember and he is the worst to convince that I need to sleep in the day and am not available for whatever. I hate this shift but the good news is I may be off it soon either by promotion or because the Day supervisor is leaving and I can move to her spot. Fingers crossed.

I think my bigger killer of writing time is my current work shift. Even thought I have two days off, it always seems like just one and that means I have to cram a lot of my chores into one day. Doesn't leave much time for writing.

(CD also says you can write for twenty minutes a day, even with kids screaming in the background, and pump out a novel a year that way. Yeah, well, not me. I'm one of those folks who firmly believes that words-on-paper does not equal words-worth-reading, and my experience is that I need regular longish stretches of quiet time to explore my story in order to tell it the way I want it told. Having twenty, or forty-five, minutes to write does not always equal worthwhile words-on-paper.)

On time: I think BenM's advice to give the job you value most your best time is excellent. Generalizing, you can say: give your time (best or otherwise) to the commitment (or part of your life, or goal, or what have you) you value most. You can use this to chop big, sweeping Plans into doable, moment-by-moment choices: am I more committed to watching Law & Order with my husband right now, or to writing right now? (The times Law & Order wins are not failures, by the way. You don't have to value writing above all else at all times to be a committed, practicing writer.)

When I can't find the time to write, I take the time to read. Reading books keep my writer brain going, because I read actively, analyzing why the writer did what she did, and how that affected me as a reader, and if it didn't work for me, then why?

Reading inspires me, reminds me what it is that I love about my chosen profession, and kicks me in the pants so I get my own butt in that dern chair and create a world or two.