Priorities

Opportunity costs.

When I earned my degrees, I had a 5 year plan. I earned 4 degrees in that time. I had no life outside of studies. There are only 168 hours in a week and you need time to do mandatory stuff: clean; sleep; fix food and eat; bathe; school stuff.

My priority was school and earning what I wanted in a limited time. I was successful. My priorities afforded me the best opportunity cost.

What are your priorities and what opportunity costs (missed opportunities for others) are you willing to give up?

When I was an undergrad, and in the years soon following, writing my stories was certainly my priority, but it was only mentally so. It was the goal I was working toward, the promised land I would eventually reach, but it was not the dominant use of my limited time then. I kept a journal (still do), dabbled in writing when I could steal some time from work and studies and my growing family, and I read a great deal just to see how it was done by others. Writing was always the direction I was ultimately going, but at that time it wasn't the biggest use of my time.

I consider this fortunate. It allowed me to hone my craft and broaden my understanding. It made me consider my words more deeply before I put them down (since they were always on my mind during the gaps when I didn't have a pencil in hand). It allowed me to see that I was a novice with a long road ahead of me. (Your results may vary.) I think in a box somewhere I still have the drafts of my many early stories, but I can't bring myself to pull them out, and perhaps it's better that way. I know that what I am writing now, my style, is vastly different from what I was doing as a novice, but I also know it is a natural progression from that time.

That is my story of how I learned to navigate the chaos.

Sometimes, a direct route to your goal isn't the best way or even the quickest way. In other words, maybe making writing a priority in your life isn't the most direct route to becoming a writer.

Consider this: you're in college, and in a position to experience a world of possibilities. Later in life (and trust me in this) you'll incorporate these experiences into your writing in both small and large ways, even decades later (I'm 50).

You're in a fencing club? Great. Try to take in the full experience of sparring for later recall. What's your body doing? Do you taste the adrenaline? What's your breathing like? Your heartbeat? What do you take in about your opponent, the coaches, the refs? What do you remember smelling?

I've never been physically confrontational with anyone myself, either in sports or outside of dive bars. When I write a fight scene, I have to rely on written accounts, YouTube videos, and my imagination. You get to live it.

I think keeping a journal of your college experiences is great. I know it helps me remember things. If you want to turn your journal into a different kind of experience, try writing the scenes from your life into fiction form. In other words, take an event from the day and write it as a scene from a story. Take artistic liberties. Your in person meeting with a professor? Change it into a scene where a student is worried that their professor is expressing a romantic interest (assuming you're comfortable with that subject). The dialog could be the exact same, mundane things you might have said in the meeting, but certain cues could dramatically change the meaning. How would that scene unfold?

Also, keep in mind that good writing takes time and experience. Don't rush this.

It's generally he balance you want is between what is best for your future and what is best for you now. Your education will keep doors open to what ever you decide to do with much of your life, however you still need to have money today and times to relax so that the first to things don't suffer from mental and physical exhaustion. Writing can help with the mental relaxation if you don't treat it like another job. Writing before work or between classes might be the way to go. I like to write on the train on the way to work, but if I really need something done then I do work instead and maybe write on the way home. The key is to not over-extend yourself and to keep things enjoyable. Best of luck to you.

I like MythMonger's advice. Imbibe the experiences of college years. Notice what you're doing, and keep a journal. You're preparing for the future, Ruby Road, not cramming the future into the now.

The time you use for sleep is one good opportunity. I am not a perfect sleeper, so during the few minutes (at least) it takes me to fall asleep, I will imagine all the ways I can approach my story, and if any neat scenes or ideas come to mind, I use my phone to email the thought to myself. When I wake up in the middle of the night, I will run through more possiblities, and if something comes, email it to myself. Same when I wake up in the morning. You can also do this while driving (the thinking part at least), eating, and any moment where intense concentration on school or work is not occupying your thoughts. Mind you, I did this for all my stories, including the part three (which I have not actually written yet) while working two part-time jobs and raising a baby. I don't have my latest story all typed out, but I have a nice trail of ideas that I can put in order and follow easily once the load lightens up a bit.

When I was in college, my writing largely fizzled and dried up. I hated myself for it at the time, but looking back, there was only so much I could do, and college was a wonderful opportunity to learn and grow in other areas. (So basically, I'm seconding everything everyone else has said.)

I corresponded daily with people, and I wrote papers. Those two outlets allowed me to hone my basic writing craft, and the rest I picked up again after graduation. For me, correspondence was like a semi-public journal; for you, a private journal would likely be a better bet.

Don't put too much pressure on yourself. There are only so many hours in the day and after all the investment of time and money to pursue higher education, it is understandable that must be your priority for the moment.

However, having said that, is it possible for you to carve out say 20-30 mins in your day, same time every day, to write? If it is not possible at the moment, then okey doke, put a pin in it and revisit in the future.

Dan Rhys said:

The time you use for sleep is one good opportunity. I am not a perfect sleeper, so during the few minutes (at least) it takes me to fall asleep, I will imagine all the ways I can approach my story, and if any neat scenes or ideas come to mind, I use my phone to email the thought to myself. When I wake up in the middle of the night, I will run through more possiblities, and if something comes, email it to myself. Same when I wake up in the morning. You can also do this while driving (the thinking part at least), eating, and any moment where intense concentration on school or work is not occupying your thoughts. Mind you, I did this for all my stories, including the part three (which I have not actually written yet) while working two part-time jobs and raising a baby. I don't have my latest story all typed out, but I have a nice trail of ideas that I can put in order and follow easily once the load lightens up a bit.

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Oh goodness, your first sentence led me to believe you were saying "Writing time can always come out of your sleeping time!" and I was about to hard disagree. This is a thing I used to hear (& say) in college & it took me years to realize how messed up we all were (basically comparing hours of sleep we'd missed like they were battle scars), and now I've learned to feel and notice just how much better I write when I'm fully rested. (Having a baby and insomnia at the same time really changed the game for me, I came to realize how very literally I would die without sleep, and I'm no longer a night person, who knew that could change?)

But anyway! You were not saying that, and I wouldn't have blathered about it if it weren't that what you really were saying was interesting & I agree. Although I wouldn't use a phone b/c the light would make me feel too awake, I think time lying in bed is a wonderful time to go over story & scene ideas, and it's happened before that I've woken up suddenly with an insight. A physical job is also great. In my experience the best way is to kind of let it come, rather than trying to force it, but if you've been writing (or just having ideas and jotting them down) your subconscious will be ruminating on it, and new ideas will surface while you work. Especially if you pull back from modernity a bit and don't fill up every instant of your time with content--at my physical job I am tempted to listen to podcasts the whole time, but I limit myself to maybe a quarter of the time. The rest is for ruminating.

College is awesome. Go enjoy college. Keep your grades up, but unless you have serious interest in grad school or teaching, don't stress out about doing it A+ all the time. You're going to do a LOT of writing for your classes, English and non-English, so you're still going to be getting plenty of time to "practice your art" or whatever pretentious sort of thing I might have said at that age. Give yourself permission to have experiences and not feel like you immediately have to write it all down. Let it percolate in there for a few years, even. Your perspective is going to change a lot (if you're lucky!) and you'll see yourself, your writing, and the world very differently after just one year. Don't even get me started on four years.

I second everyone's suggestions about journaling, etc. Write whatever you feel like when you feel like, but don't do it at the expense of everything else because you are pressured to write or whatever. Don't be that guy who lives in his dorm room and never sees the sun or interacts with kids his own age. GO HAVE FUN. You have our permission.

If you do it the way you're "supposed" to, you only get this one chance, and you're really only young enough to fully enjoy it this one time, so go do THAT.
The words will be waiting for you when you get back.

p.s. In case this hasn't come up yet, don't forget to use this college time to make a backup plan. Look for a way to turn that degree into a real job and please don't try being a starving artist. It is not as cool as the movies make it look. Learn some shit that makes you actually employable while you're waiting to take the literary world by storm, ok? Even an English major can be that, if you're able to show up and be professional. You just have to be open to writing for other people for a while. There's a ton of fields where you can make money by basically being the person who is good with the words. Every industry needs someone like that. (It's actually not that bad, and it will make you a better writer, but you have to balance so you don't use all your energy on "their" words instead of "your" words.) Sorry to go all Mommy-voice on you, but I used to work with college kids, so I can't resist.

Concentrate on college; it's a rare opportunity. Continue to keep a journal; you can use it to write down ideas.

After your first two years, you may discover a campus writing group or literary magazine, but for now, concentrate on college.

a big part of writing is living enough to have some salient observations on humanity, and something to say.

enjoy your college, and focus on it. write in summer, write an hour at night if you must and have the time for it, but I'd never suggest you prioritize writing over college, even if you only wanted to be a writer.

quicklime said:

a big part of writing is living enough to have some salient observations on humanity, and something to say.

enjoy your college, and focus on it. write in summer, write an hour at night if you must and have the time for it, but I'd never suggest you prioritize writing over college, even if you only wanted to be a writer.

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I agree completely.
Live life. Love someone. Have your heart broken. Do something stupid and dangerous. Travel. Meet all sorts of different people. Have an adventure.

ETA: Keep a journal of your exploits.

Say... what is your course of study? Some of my most valuable writing experience in college was not so much writing itself as the feedback I was uniquely able to get on my writing during those two (for me it was two) years when I had writing profs available to me. I did an independent study with one prof & learned a bunch while mostly writing one short story. Kind of maximum benefit without a really huge time input. Is something like this an option you have, where you are?

I agree about keeping a journal. It'll be a treasure chest in the future.

You can write stuff that isn't hugely demanding, to keep your writing chops going until you have more time. Blog posts. Short stories. Poems.

My college poetry was the best worst stuff you'd ever read--but it was fun and a nice outlet at the time.

In addition to hard work, I believe it takes a lot of luck to earn a decent living as a writer (of any genre). So, I'll give you the same advice I gave my daughters when they were young: shoot for the moon, but have a back up plan.

I came from a very poor background - I had known real poverty and decided that I really didn't like it, so when I went through community college my goal was to major in something that would give me skills I could use to make money. I was good at art and liked to draw, so I majored in drafting, which back then was a good field to be in. Employers came to my school and hired us directly, and within a year I was living in a nice apartment and driving a new car.

Later I went back and took classes at UC Berkley in philosophy, art, history, and computer science. I didn't start writing until I was in my 30's.

Now I'm retired, and living in a nice big house in Colorado with a view of the front range. I write novels (7 so far), ride my motorcycle all over the country, and teach martial art classes at a local Dojang. Life is good, and I'm pleased with most of the decisions I made along the way.

You know what, I absolutely hear you about not forgetting. There's a huge difference between working on something just enough to keep it alive in your mind and dropping it entirely even while hoping to pick it back up. If that's your goal I'll tell you what's worked for me.

I work seasonally on an organic farm. There are times of very heavy work. I also have a young kid. In the summer it can get so busy and I'm often pulled in many directions. In the winter I have time to write, but lately I'm dissatisfied with dropping my current novel when summer hits and trying to come back to it in October. I find that if I "keep in touch" with the novel (I almost picture keeping my finger on an invisible thread like in a myth or fairytale) I can get so much more "done" even if I don't write much. If I do just one writing session a week (usually a 3-4 hour session--I don't know if you've heard this, but there's a biological rhythm whereby you can do focused work for about 1 1/2 hours before you need a short break, I do 2 of those basically, but maybe I could get away with just 1), then the story is alive in my head the rest of the week, and I keep thinking of it and having ideas for it & I tend to know exactly what to write when the next session rolls around. Due to this practice I'm just now entering my writing season with an entire synopsis of my WIP instead of, like, 7 chapters ending in mid-air and a question mark. And it's very alive in my head. Incorporating some weekly writing session into your schedule might give you a sort of anchor, help you to keep in touch with your dream and your ideas for stories, even if you don't produce a ton of wordcount.

(If you do decide to do this, remember it's OK to be confident about it. Other people will consider you available when you're writing in a way they won't when you have something Official scheduled--because come on, you can reschedule that can't you?--but you are allowed to treat it as Official and ironclad and "no sorry I'm busy/I've got plans/I can't." Only if you want to of course. But it is Work and you have the right for others to respect it as Work and not futzing around on a computer.)

BTW our interests sound rather similar with the indoor/outdoor theme. My outdoor thing is gardening & farming but I've been trying to learn a little forestry and majoring in it sounds like it would be amazing. I'll just mention, you'll probably end up hearing the name but when looking at land management in general, make sure you read Allan Savory, he has some groundbreaking yet common-sense (at least if you feed that common sense with decades of close observation of nature instead of assumptions) concepts that I think everyone should learn.

"I don't know. It's just weird. Last year, when my family asked me what I wanted to be and I said 'a science fiction writer' they were PISSED. I realize how whiny this sounds, but I deeply regret saying anything and wish I had just given some bs answer. I haven't mentioned it to them since, so they probably think I've given up on it."

This points to a very important issue. No one is going to believe in your passion the way you do. Many will try to demean and belittle it or "rationalize" for you how it is a mistake. (Or worse, try to help you!) That was certainly my experience, and I learned early on to keep my writing ambition my own, private possession. Few people who know me know that I write fiction. Certainly not my employer and very few of my friends. If it was going to be my hobby/passion/ambition then I felt I had to protect it.

You may want to be alert to this possibility.

Find one day a week where you have no commitments. If you're that busy find a period of time, 1-3 hours, where you can just focus on writing. Doing it away from home really seems to help me. Popping into Starbucks for an hour or so and at least getting a sentence is better than nothing. Once a week for 3 hours doesn't seem like much but at least it's consistent.