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Five Ways to Find Time to Write

Time and space to write
A journal, a seat and a view can become an instant writing space

I once promised my muse I could teach him to play Beethoven’s Ode to Joy on the piano: five notes in five minutes. We will test that theory, when he makes the time to try it. Finding time to do anything today has become a nightmare of schedules, not to mention a cash cow for those in the organizer business. As writers, particularly those of us raising children and working day jobs to feed them, ‘finding time to write’ has become a well-worn phrase full of good intentions and shy of results. After a lifetime of writing for hire, I am now rediscovering the joy of writing for myself, no word count or deadline attached. That also means no money attached, which gets it pushed down my list right around ‘paint the kitchen’ and ‘build a flower garden in the front yard’ … nice-to-do’s which I may not live long enough to see completed.

Five Ways to Find Time

I have finally said Enough is Enough. I will get my Book Five ready for release in 2020. I will do it without selling my children or quitting my job, because on a dark day nobody would take them off my hands, and when I am truly honest with myself, neither of those areas in my life are to blame. It’s all up to me. Here are the five ways I found more time to write:

1. Own your choices

All of them. Granted, some choices are easier to make than others. Faced with cooking supper for hungry kids or watching Star Wars for the 37th time during movie night during what could be prime writing time, I will in this moment choose family because I can. But I also choose to distract myself with sorting my sock drawer, shredding 10-year-old receipts and watching fish swim in our aquarium (and before you judge too harshly they are real fish in real water, not a screen saver, and are absolutely fascinating creatures). Those moments add up to 30 minutes or even an hour of good writing time. When I feel that fidgety urge to engage mindlessly, I now stop, drop the recycling bag and pick up my notebook

2. Allow vs Find

That’s right. You are one verb from unlocking a universe of time and space. I have realized that all the time I need is around me nearly all of the time. What I needed to do is stop searching and start allowing: pausing, breathing, reframing. This is not magic or imagination. This is seeing the world as abundant rather than scarce. Trained to live a ‘productive’ life measured by the size of houses, bank accounts and bulging calendars, we have become most adept at filling space with stuff: clothes, electronics, appointments, errands. Take a look at my shower: for five of us there are enough bottles, soap dishes and loofahs to shampoo, condition and scrub a small city. Do you really want time to write? Then allow yourself that time. An hour less on the mobile device, 15 minutes of your lunch hour … you and your writing are worth it.

3. Sort into Projects

There are days when 2,000 words will flow from the fingertips as easily as air from the lungs. Other days, I have to rewrite a school note three times for it to make sense. To keep writing every day, I view my manuscript in layers and pieces that require tasks fitting wherever my brain is – or isn’t – in those moments, and the number of moments I have available. A free afternoon? That’s when I do my deep-dive contemplation and scene sketches. Sitting in the school parking lot? I have scene prompts on my phone, which in 10 minutes can turn into a decent chunk of chapter. Can barely get dressed in the morning? It’s a day to be gentle, when I sort through my journals and notes, toss anything o longer needed, sticky-noting or highlighting phrases that attract. Rather than the blanket ‘I don’t feel like it’ or ‘I don’t have time’, I have tasks at the ready rather than excuses.

4. Let it suck

The writing, that is. Writing is not like peeling an orange … words seldom flow in a single, continuous line. New writing often emerges disjointed, awkward, jagged. It looks nothing like you imagined and sounds like someone else’s story, until you review, edit, and polish it. None of those things can happen until the writing is out in the open. I too often cling to ideas until they fade or rot because I want the paragraph, or the entire book, to flow effortlessly in the first draft. If I had written my first draft when the ideas first came, my book would have been done years ago.

5. Find a Buddy

NaNoWriMo has been brilliant at getting novels everywhere out of minds and onto paper or screens where readers can enjoy them. Last winter I teamed up with my local library – I spend one morning a week there, an hour for me to write, and an hour I open up as a drop-in for anyone wanting to talk about writing. I have reviewed short stories, poem and novels in progress. I have chatted with people who write for hire, for pleasure, and for healing. Every conversation brings me closer to my own writing and the routine gives me dedicated writing time – an oasis in the sea of awesome chaos that is my life right now.

It’s in there

The time to write is there, just as your story is there. Some slight adjustments can turn a door into a gateway open any time you choose it.

Jennifer Hatt is author of the Finding Maria series.
She is cofacilitating a Sacred Space writing workshop in Oahu, Hawaii for writers of all stages. Learn more at https://retreatinhawaii.com/writing-retreat

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Three things to get you in the mood … to blog

I’m in a toxic relationship with my blog. There, I said it.

I know I’m supposed to love my blog, or at least appreciate what it can do for me: the search engine rankings, the engaging virtual storefront, the opportunity to exercise my writing voice. Instead, I circle my blog like a wary stranger, saying a polite hello every now and then, wishing it would just go away, until in remorse I lavish some attention, make a few promises, and the dance begins anew.

I am resolving to restore my blogging relationship to health.
Why? Marketing benefits aside, I have come to realize that how I treat my blog, or any aspect of my business for that matter, is how I treat myself.
Avoiding and neglecting my blog means I have been avoiding and neglecting myself, my authentic self that is called to write and share and live successfully in my chosen career.
That needs to change if I am to lead the life I want, and at the very least, sell a few of those books serving as box shelves in the basement.
My blogging attitude is not the only thing that needs to change, but it’s a start.

These are my first three steps:

1. Be honest.

Come on, seriously. No time? The truth is, faced with the choice of blogging or scrubbing the rim of the toilet with a cotton swab, well, let’s just say my bathroom has never been cleaner. It’s all about owning choices and focusing on the ‘can’ rather than the ‘can’t’. Do I have time to blog every day? No, and that is realistic. Do I have time to blog once a week? Yes, I can. An hour a week. I can find that, if I choose to.  And I will choose to, if I want this relationship to work.

2. Make a date.

For everything in my life – project deadlines, client meetings, kids’ dentist appointments – if it’s not in my calendar, it doesn’t get done. My blog will not write itself, nor will it appear magically in a dream when I suddenly decide today’s the day. It certainly can’t give me any kind of return if I give it nothing to start with.  It takes (and deserves) creative space, which only I can create. Getting it on the to-do list starts the process.

3. Offer kindness.

Writers can be their own worst critics, which in the extreme can go two ways: complete shutdown that smothers ideas and deletes any words before they can see the light of day, or complete detachment, where stream of consciousness bubbles unchecked and unedited into publication, flooding the blogosphere with typos, rage, and half-formed thoughts attached to your name. There is a middle ground, discovered through kindness to self and to writing. Be clear in expectation, but also realistic. I am in a position to write a blog because I’ve written and published books; that counts for something. And, this is a blog: a small snapshot of my world, my story, my intent that I choose to share today. It is not a pitch for the Pulitzer or a tome to endure the ages. Maybe someday, but expectation and unfair comparison to anyone or anything other than where we are in this moment can be cruel, demoralizing and a good excuse to just say no.

Why do this at all? Because my relationship with my blog will lead to something bigger: my relationship with you, fellow writers, readers, and creative spirits, and ultimately, a healthier relationship with myself. So, today,  I blog … Thanks for being here to share in it.