No time to write...

Is it possible to get up an hour early or stay up an hour late? I'm currently a beta reader for a young woman who has a job, goes to college and has a one year old daughter. On top of that she is single.

I think a tape recorder is a good idea. I'm sure you don't spend every waking moment taking care of the kids. When you get up tommorow make an account for every hour of time you spend awake on a piece of paper right down to bed time. Then look over said paper the next day and see if you can squeeze in two hours. Cut time wasters like T.V.

Always carry a notepad -- and steal moments. Try to keep yourself "close" to the book so even when you only have a little time to write, you can pound a few things out.

I'm feeling the stress, too -- college classes, college life, job, my blog, my homework, the list goes on. Eeeek!

Your lunch hour.

Nap times (I hope the twins nap simultaneously.)

I used to get up at 5AM when my daughter was an infant - and write until she woke up. Now, I write when the little hooligans are in bed at night...

Other than that... what everyone else said...

With only so many hours in the day sleep must suffer, for me.

Well, that's not true. I always find time for sleep. But my writing usually comes in the cracks of my day, and if that isn't enough late in the P.M.

Don't have kids so I don't know how to relate to that dilemma. Congrats, by the way.

A tape/digital recorder is a pretty good idea. I found (personally) it worked best when I just used it for outlining chapters or recording short exchanges of dialogue or snips of description. Trying to tell the story out loud in a sensible fashion is somehow beyond me. (I ramble a lot when I'm "talking" the story rather than writing it.)

Carrying a notebook with you is good too.

I found, personally, that with a little practice I was able to mentally write scenes (usually no more than about 1,500 words) and then when I went to type them up later it took me about a third the time it normally did. But, if you're running on little sleep, you might struggle with that. When my son was an infant I couldn't hold any thought longer than a couple words for more than a few minutes.

I find I have the most time to write (on a consistent basis) in the evening after my son is in bed. But I also don't watch TV much at all any more. (I know everyone always brings that up and some people already don't watch TV but, personally, I added four plus hours to my "free" time per day when I stopped. And I hadn't even been watching anything specific. It was "Let's just see what's on." And then three - four hours would go by before I figured out I didn't want to watch anything. >_<)

Setting a small daily goal (to be increased as time becomes more available) may be beneficial. One page/250 words is not a lot. And they don't all have to be connected. Just giving myself something to shoot for reminded me to take the 20 minutes before bed/during lunch/whenever and use it to write. Instead of ... surfing around AW for instance.

I quite like the idea of spouses giving each other the gift of time. Maybe half an hour apiece, kid-free, to spend however they choose. After all, your wife needs some time, too no doubt, in order to follow her own pursuits or maybe just relax.

aadams73 said:

I quite like the idea of spouses giving each other the gift of time. Maybe half an hour apiece, kid-free, to spend however they choose. After all, your wife needs some time, too no doubt, in order to follow her own pursuits or maybe just relax.

Click to expand...

We do that. Wednesday nights are mine, I go down to see my parents, my sister comes up, alcohol and food is shared, I have a whale of a time. Dh goes out either on a Tuesday or Thursday. Keeps us both sane. We have four kids btw, but older than yours.

When the youngest two were a baby and a toddler, and both with serious sleeping problems, I would write at night. I finished my first nano with dd2 asleep on the sofa behind me and dd3 in the pram beside me.

Is she bottle feeding the twins? Could you offer to do the night feeds and write whilst you feed? It's possible to to that. I can tell you that from experience Write during your dinner hour, give up TV, little bursts of writing will give you more words than you think.

Congrats on your new babies btw!

... hire a babysitter to tend to the kids for a few hours, several nights a week.
That would allow you to go in another room and write, while still being in the vicinity if need arises.

I'd suggest a trade off as already recommended with a little spice. Propose to your wife that you each have one evening/day/half day a week that is scheduled as your own time, away from the family. You can go somewhere conducive to your writing and then take the children so she can do the same and also get some personal refueling time.

Of course a laptop is ideal for such, but I hand wrote when my daughter was little and I had one night a week when she stayed with my parents. It was my line to sanity

I imagine you both could benefit from it and so might the children.

"Lunch" is over-rated.

Join a carpool; carry a notebook.

Bah, don't sacrifice any sleep unless you'd be up anyway, with three kids under three, you need all the sleep you can get. I bet you're both exhausted. With so many very small children, I'd be tempted to not start any big projects until the twins are in some sort of a routine and your toddler is sleeping through (She might be now, but I know that not all two years olds do, especially when something new and exciting is happening)

Take the bus to work.

And congratulations!

I think it was Raymond Carver who'd go out and sit in his car to get a quiet writing spot. Another writer used to hole up in his car at lunch time to escape from distractions.

Keep your hand in as best you can. The kids will grow up. If your writing muscles are still in decent shape then, you'll have a valuable headstart, and a bunch of notes and rough drafts screaming for attention -- those "kids" never grow up.