How do you have time to write?!

Oh yeah, I hear ya! It's a challenge (one that I'm still struggling with myself). Setting tiny goals helps. I wrote my last short story in 250-word chunks. I've found that waiting for the "perfect" block of time doesn't work. Some other people here steal writing time whenever they can. 15 minutes here, 10 minutes there, maybe even an hour if you're lucky, it all adds up.

There's a thread in the Mystery forum called the "500 words a day" thread. It's a wonderful motivational tool and it's worth checking out!

Just remember -- baby steps! One sentence at a time, one page at a time. Good luck!

Yeah, it's definitely tough. My day job involves writing and linguistics, so my brain is sometimes kinda fried when I come home. I try to have a couple hours of transition time between work and fiction writing -- sometimes I go for a run; I help my husband get dinner on the table; we eat and talk; I have some wine; we clean up the kitchen; we watch Jeopardy; and then I go out to walk our crazy dog. As soon as I start on the walk, my brain clicks into WIP mode and I start coming up with ideas for what I'm going to write when I get back. Usually I have a couple good lines or a scene of dialogue in mind when I return.

That's an ideal evening, though, when I'm able to walk the dog exactly at 8 PM and then come back and have the rest of the evening to write. I try to get in two hours of sustained writing time every day, but sometimes those two hours come at strange times. Last night I was up until almost 2 in the morning, and it looks like tonight will be almost the same. Sigh. Things come up. Family stuff, or trying to maintain some form of social life, or just the urge to watch a movie in the evening.

I make good use of my weekends, though. Weekend mornings in particular.

Also, my husband sets me deadlines for when I have to have certain chapters finished. I write well under pressure, so I tend to get a lot of good stuff finished just before a deadline. I recommend this -- get a family member or trusted friend to set a fire under you.

If you can grab a few minutes to write at work -- lunch break or coffee break or whatever -- that's really helpful, too. Actually, one of my best writing days in recent memory happened last Thursday. My officemate was out "sick" (read: hungover) and so I finished up my pressing things in the morning and took the entire afternoon to work on my novel. I don't generally endorse that, but I usually work like a madwoman, so I didn't feel one bit guilty about that afternoon. The mild illicitness of writing at work fueled me to write some really good stuff!

I agree it is tough. I work 8 to 5 come home have dinner with my wife and almost immediately go to the computer to write. I will spend two to three hours writing, including the weekends, as I do not want to ignore my wife. She is very supportive but I must not ignore her, as you well know if you are married what may happen! But seriously she is very supportive, I as well write at work on all my breaks, actually my co workers think I am a bit of a recluse I do not socialize with them at all.

swove said:

I agree it is tough. I work 8 to 5 come home have dinner with my wife and almost immediately go to the computer to write. I will spend two to three hours writing, including the weekends, as I do not want to ignore my wife. She is very supportive but I must not ignore her, as you well know if you are married what may happen! But seriously she is very supportive, I as well write at work on all my breaks, actually my co workers think I am a bit of a recluse I do not socialize with them at all.

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I know just what you mean Swove. My wife is very supportive too but she gets antsy if I spend more than an hour or two writing!

When I was working, I had set times for writing, including lunchtime at work. Now I'm domestic servant, I do housework in the morning and try to write in the afternoons. But lately I've had a lot of book signings, giving talks at schools and church groups and travel (buying a house in Nambucca Heads, on the New South Wales coast). So my new-found release from work hasn't given me a heap of additional time to write.

I have a full-time job but that's easy enough to work around. What's more difficult is social commitments, that can take up a whole evening, and other things that need to get done. The only time I can guarantee I will be able to write undisturbed is in the morning before work. So, consequently, I wake up at 5 am every week day. It's not so bad now that I'm used to it and it's also like I'm proving my commitment to writing, to myself, which really helps. I guess if it's important enough to you then you will find the time, even if it's just a half-hour during your lunch break.

I make time in the evening--usually an hour or two and spend more time on the story on the weeknds and the holidays.

I am fortunate- sort of- I work every weekend 12 hour shifts and then one eight hour shift during the week(usually Friday) then I have four days off- 32 hours and I get paid for forty- but I give up every weekend- I write after my housework and barnwork is done and before my kids get home from school. and then again at night when they are in bed or watching TV.

Full time employee/mother of two here. I write when the kids go to bed. I write when they take naps on the weekends. I write when I get fits of insomnia in the middle of the night and on my lunch hour at work. I just take advantage of the little moments I have available to me. When I was almost finished with my last novel, I told my husband I needed him to get the kids out of the house all day on a Saturday so I could focus. I finished the first draft that day.
Catch as catch can.

Great question! Writing is one of three jobs for me; I also own a travel agency and am a counselor. Fortunately I can do them simultaneously much of the time. Although I do some in-person work, the bulk of my counseling clients contact me via an online service so I can be "available" in the background while working on my writing. Same with the travel agency; they email or call, and I can write inbetween as long as I also make time for the paperwork. I am taking college classes, too, so that makes it a bit more challenging but I tend to thrive on the challenge. I've always had multiple jobs for as long as I can remember, and the internet just makes it a bit easier.

I take my hat off to you folks who manage full-time jobs, housekeeping, looking after children - and still manage to find time to write and log in to AW.

You deserve medals - and reward for your efforts. I hope you are successful.

I usually log on to AW during hours at work - I multi-task, keep the AW site open and check in that way. My job is writing at work - I write proposals for our sales department, I end up writing or talking about writing all day long.

I write on my lunch hour at work, and when I get home I have 2 'no-internet' hours, from 5-7. I set my router up so I actually can't get online then, or - well, or I'd be here. After 7 my husband is home so we have dinner, then either hang out or he works on his translations and I go back to writing. On the weekends I try to be at my desk by 8:30 am barring illness or excessive partying the night before, and I try to get in at least 4 hours of writing.

I used to just write when the mood took me, but I find that setting some rules for myself made it far more likely I'd actually get something done. Apparently me mum was right all along: I need a little discipline.

I wouldn't have any trouble at all finding up to four hours a day to write if I didn't procrastinate so much. In fact, you might look at your day and see where you're procrastinating (taking extra long showers, for example, or lingering at the table after dinner for no good reason,) and try to stop it.

I also write little bits throughout the day. I have high school, college, and work, gym, and practice, so I'm pretty much booked during the day, but I do have ten or twenty minutes here and there and I usually take the opportunity to write (why, God, why?)

I sit down and force myself to fill a quota during novel-writing. My goal is six pages at normal times, twelve pages on holidays and weekends, and three days when time is a factor or I'm not feeling well.

Carimel said:

Does anyone have the same problem like I do? How do you have time to write when you work full- time. Does anyone just set a certain time of the day or take a whole day and just write? Need some Help?? Thanks!!!

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Back in the day, when I used to work, I would have given almost anything to have free time to write.

Now, I'm disabled, unemployed, and have all the time in the world.

I HATE IT!

Having nothing to do all day literally drives me up the wall. I have to regulate my time between writing, taking care of my home, and being on the Internet in such a way as to have something to do during the day. I've been looking back at the days when I worked, and my mouth waters at how creative and confident I was back then in my writing.

So don't think that your full-time job is a hindrance to your writing. It could actually be helping you to write better because of your lack of writing time. It's like what some people say about resistance. It produces pressure, and makes what you do create, have more impact.

I would consider the full-time job a blessing instead of a curse, if I were you, because the work will temper your imagination and your desire to write, to a fine, sharp edge that can be more effective at writing whatever it is you want to produce. In short, full-time work can in and of itself make you a sharper instrument and a better writer, if you'll let it.

Between work, the house, and a toddler, I'm another grab-when-I-can type. I write on breaks and lunch at work, and at night after my daughter is sleeping. Weekends when she naps or when my husband takes her out for a while.

When I worked full time, I stopped writing. Yes, I know--gasp! Those of you that make it work, I'm envious. I was too bloody exhausted and brain dead at the end of the day to write one word. Weekends were spent with toddlers, so that was out.

Upon moving to Germany, I was going to return to college--kids old enough to be in school full time, so it was MY turn--but my husband said: You've always wanted to write, you finished a manuscript a long time ago....why not become a full time writer now?

Shit. Didn't have to tell me twice.

We made sure to move into a house that had an extra room for me to have my own 'office', where I proceeded to fill it with my swords, LOTR collectibles, and turn it into a fantasy realm haven.

But work full time AND write? I couldn't pull it off. Those of you that can are very gifted/lucky/talented.

Try temping. Once you make enough to pay the bills you can quit working for weeks at a time and have plenty of time to write. You have to find a good employment agency, of course, sympathetic to your needs and also having a lot of short-term assignments, available. Best Wishes.

4 hours on Friday nights, and 10 am to 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays.

I have no social life whatsoever. None.

DWSTXS said:

4 hours on Friday nights, and 10 am to 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays.

I have no social life whatsoever. None.

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Don't worry. Once we move house, we'll be in the same boat as you.

I make the time. I work full time and, due to an impossible commute, am out of the house from 6:45am - 6pm ish. Some days I'll get home earlier, but not that much earlier.

I'm up at 5am every morning, whether I'm working or not. I can put in an hours' writing then get ready for work. I carry my notebook with me and write while I'm waiting for my second bus. Once I get home, have dinner and clean up it's usually around 7:30pm so that gives me a chance to get some more writing done.

Housework - what housework? My friends know not to call by without giving me enough time to tidy up. I can live with the house being untidy through the week and give it a major tidy up at the weekend. I don't watch a great deal of TV and it's fairly rare for me to go out on a weeknight.

For me it's a matter of prioritising what's important - and writing is far more important than having an impeccable house or knowing what
TV programme is hot at the moment.

Make the time. Put all your important stuff aside(Unless your life depended on it) and write! Homework sucks!

I have it easier than most people with FT jobs, because I live alone. So if I want to make the time, it can be done. Of course, it's still a struggle.

Essentially, while I'm hammering out a first draft, I give myself weeknights off. I may write on a weeknight, and I often do, but I don't have to. I can go out with my friends, catch up on housework or just watch TV. Whatever. But Saturday and Sunday are essentially all-day writing marathons -- I put in a good 8-10 hours each of those days. It gets wearying by the end, but OTOH, I can get a first draft together pretty quickly that way.

Speaking of which, I have two chapters left on Hourglass, and my current break is about to end --

I get up and work on my WIP when my husband goes out the door to work, 4:45, and before my granddaughter gets up for the day, anywhere between 7:30 and 8:00.