How I Made More Time For Writing
Carving out time for my craft — no matter what
When starting out it’s not uncommon for many writers and authors to have another job, which means finding the time to write can sometimes be quite difficult. Couple that with the seemingly endless day-to-day tasks of life and you suddenly find yourself close to the end of the evening with barely a few hundred words written — if any.
2020 was the year that many people found themselves working from home and, for the vast majority, they weren’t the only ones in their household doing so. What’s more, it seems like 2021 is going to follow quite a similar pattern. Sharing your workspace isn’t always easy and working from home brings with it its own set of challenges.
I’ll be the first to admit that this new routine took a while for me to get used to and, sadly, my writing was one of the things that suffered the most in the beginning. Due to this, I knew it was imperative that I found a way of carving out time for my writing, whether it be for Medium articles or for the novel I’m currently working on.
By following just a few simple steps I was able to incorporate a strong writing routine into my busy days. Not only that, but I found that I actually had more time for writing than before.
Here’s how I did it.
Making Time
There are only 24 hours in a day. That’s it. That’s all we’ve got to work with. We all know this and yet we constantly struggle to find enough time to do certain tasks. I get it. Lives can get busy and sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to… like being an adult. Sigh.
At times it can seem completely impossible to find the opportunity to write… but here’s the thing we need to realize — we will never ‘find’ the time to write. It’s just not going to happen. We have to make the time.
You need to turn your writing time into one of those things on your calendar that becomes as constant and important as those such as shower, eat, and sleep. You need to make it a permanent fixture. If that means you have to give up something else then so be it. If you really are serious about writing then this choice shouldn’t be too difficult to make.
Writing should be one of the tasks you do before you reward yourself with things like Netflix or scrolling through social media. It shouldn’t be viewed as something to do in your spare time — make it something you do before you have spare time.
The way I did this was by using Google Calendar. I slotted in all the essential parts of my day and then saw what was leftover. From those gaps, I was able to clearly see the times I could dedicate to writing, and which slot it would fit into best. Now it sits in my calendar along with all my other necessary tasks.
I’m strict with my calendar, but not so strict that I don’t swap things around to make them easier or more efficient. As long as I actually do what’s on my schedule then it’s ok for the order to be rearranged from time to time — a nice perk that comes with working at home. Also, something about having ‘Writing Time’ scheduled in just gives me that extra little kick of motivation that I sometimes need.
Life doesn’t always allow us to follow a certain timetable, but committing yourself to making time — even if the ‘when’ has to change day by day — will serve you better than simply waiting for a good moment to present itself.
However, just because you’ve made the time doesn’t always mean you’ll get to utilize it, which is where rules come in.
Setting Rules
If you live with other people then this is very important. Why? Because quite often your writing time, or lack thereof, has nothing to do with your motivation, but how others view it.
I let everyone in my household know that, during my writing time, I am not to be disturbed… and this rule is non-negotiable. They are not allowed to interrupt me (unless there’s a real emergency — fire, an earthquake, Armageddon) and it’s something I would recommend you do too. Sometimes you just have to put your foot down.
Why did I start doing this? Well, it soon became clear that even though what I was doing was quite serious to me, others didn’t always see it that way. I kept being interrupted by things such as:
“Oh, you’re free. Come help me for a second.”
“Can you do ‘insert chore’?”
“Hey, I’m busy, will you do this?”
“But you’re just sitting there…?”
…and this is how my rule came to be. If you do go by the ‘Do Not Disturb’ rule then I suggest you also incorporate a no-exceptions rule too. Allowing exceptions can easily become a slippery road and all too soon you could find yourself back where you started. No exceptions. No ‘just this once’. Stand firm and strong!
It doesn’t matter if you live with housemates, friends, your parents, your partner, or whoever — they all have to follow the rules. If there are kids in the house (who are old enough) then they also must abide by them.
It can be more difficult with children in the house but it’s also not impossible. This is where scheduling your writing time comes in useful again. If you do it at a time when you know you won’t be needed as much, it can help minimize interruptions.
Sometimes one of the hardest things about being a writer is the lack of support we get from others, or the view that writing is more of a hobby than an actual job or viable career — especially if it’s not what you do full-time.
If you’ve ever told someone you’re a writer I’m sure you’ve heard your fair share of replies such as “Oh, that’s nice, but what do you actually do? What’s your real job?” along with other innocent, yet annoying responses.
This is why carving out that time to write is so important.
If you don’t make writing a priority, others won’t see it as one either.
