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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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Five questions that keep me writing

I am called to be a writer, but I was not born into the writer’s life. My past is a vista of gently rolling hills of a life on cruise control, precharted and unengaged. Very safe, highly productive, but a world away from the wild roller coaster plunging into the darkness and around corners unexplored, riding on faith, hope and the fantastic joy of adventure. As writers we create stories. Sometimes, the biggest story is the one we feed ourselves to keep us ‘in line’, on a route serving the narrow agenda of others rather than our authentic selves. After decades of chipping at the mind’s prison with the verbal equivalent of a bobby pin, my spirit is emerging, squinting, and slowly expanding into this vast new universe of a life free from ‘I can’ts’, “I shouldn’t” and ‘You aren’ts’. Sitting with five questions is helping me do that.

The Five Questions

These five questions are not true/false or multiple choice; they cannot be answered, checked off, and filed. For me, they serve as lampposts on a journey still coated in the fog of my past, giving comfort in moments of isolation, guidance in those times where I’m wondering where, or if, to move on. I’m still using them. Now, I’m moved to share them.

  1. Why do I want to write? This may seem like a no-brainer, but sitting with this question was like taking a long look at the suitcase I’d been carrying unaware for so long, I’d forgotten why. Writing was something I always did, it got me through school and into a job, I had never made writing a conscious choice. Reflecting on the why allowed me to dumping that suitcase I’d been dragging for so long. I am sorting out what no longer served me: outgrown beliefs, dirty laundry, other people’s ideas …and make room for dreams and goals of my own.
  2. What am I called to write? I started with a story for a friend. I am now on a journey within myself to places I didn’t know existed. For a time, I turned off my writing in the hopes of ending the journey. Getting honest about what I was doing allowed me to make the choice to keep going. it had nothing to do with knowing how to write, everything to do with aligning my desire with my actions.
  3. How does fear manifest in my life? We all have fears, and thank God we do. Fear can be a powerful messenger and motivator, if we don’t let it take charge. Medicine can be a cure or a poison, depending on how we use it. Meeting our fears, getting to know them, then putting them in our place is part of what makes the roller coaster so exhilarating.
  4. How do I nourish my creative spirit? For years, I didn’t even acknowledge I had a creative spirit. When its presence would not be denied, I fed it Doritos and margarita, not to nourish it, but to keep it distracted and quiet. I still love my Doritos (Zesty Cheese is my favourite) and a good margarita, but only in times when I am celebrating – the end of a chapter, a great conversation, the company of good friends – for it is these things that feed my creativity.
  5. Who make me feel like a writer? Our world of commerce and tangible outcomes is rarely kind to the artistic soul. How many words did you write? How many books did you sell? These can be well-meaning from the curious or important in a business meeting but they can also be draining to a soul called to imagine, explore and discover new paths of expression. Writing is solitary but starves in isolation. Connecting with others, building relationships that feed and flow … that plugs you in to the limitless energy flowing through and around all of us.

It doesn’t matter what you’re writing…

… it matters THAT you’re writing. I have tried not being a writer, and it’s like turning off the pump to stop it from raining. My mind and body still generate ideas and stories; without writing they accumulate, overwhelm, and churn, until they leak out at the most inopportune times. Like 2 am. Or in the middle of a finance meeting. So, I keep the conversation going. Here, on my blog. And in January, in person on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. You can ready more about the Hawaiian retreat here. New voices always welcome.

About the Author

Jennifer Hatt is author of the Finding Maria series and works with other authors realizing their goals for writing. See more at OwnYourStoryNow.com