How To Make Time To Write
Write 350 words using one of the following prompts:
1. Pick a random story in the news today. Write an opinion piece detailing the opposite of your actual opinion on the subject and the strongest arguments you can think of in support.
2. You're a celestial being who wakes up one morning trapped in a body that appears to be made of flesh and bone. Describe your thoughts.
3. It's your last day on death row. The prison chef regrets to inform you that your choice of last meal is unavailable. Describe, in detail, your second choice, and how you react when they just bring you an overcooked steak regardless.
Feel free to hit 'reply' and share your writing with me. I'd love to read it!
For many of you, the primary obstacle to getting started with writing is time. Between work, spouses, children, housework, and the inevitable odds and ends that require attending to, life is just plain busy. I asked a friend of mine what was getting in the way of starting her passion project:
"[T]ime is definitely the issue. I do have some free time, but with two little kids, it’s limited and I really only have capacity to do one “extra” thing."
And because her "extra" time slot, as she put it, had been taken up with a work project, she didn't have the time to pursue her side project.
Also, when you're trying to squeeze a new habit into a crammed schedule, it's often the first thing to get bumped once rubber hits road and life's pressures start adding up. It's easy to ditch "the new thing" when you get busy and exhausted.
The goal here isn't to try to stuff a new habit into space that's already occupied. The goal is to clear out a few 30-minute blocks of uninterrupted time every week for you to write. 30 minutes per day would be great, but let's be real. Who's got that much time? I suggest aiming for two or three 30-minute blocks every week.
These can be on the weekend or during the week. They can be in the morning, afternoon, or evening. It all depends on your schedule and your preferences.
But, you're probably asking, how do I make the time for this? I've got a few ideas that might work for you...
How to make time for writing
How you make time will depend on your personal situation. If you're a busy mom with a partner, you might find one strategy useful while a single parent or a working professional without children will find another strategy helpful. Again, the important thing is to pick something that works for you.
Ask your family for some time
This strategy is great for working parents with spouses or partners with the ability to pick up some slack. Tell your partner that you're working on creating a new writing habit and that you need them to take care of the kids-slash-house-slash-interruptions for 30 minutes on specific days.
If you have the time, you can always offer a trade. "I'll take the kids to the park on Tuesdays and Thursdays if you'll take them on Wednesdays and Fridays." Something like that.
Reducing time spent on a "bad" habit
No matter how busy we are, we all spend time in ways that we'd rather not. We've all got "bad" habits. For example, many of us spend more time on social media than we might like. Why not cut out some of this "wasted" time and spend it on your new writing habit instead? Facebook sucks anyway.
Using your work lunch break
A work lunch break, especially in a quiet, white-collar setting where you get a full hour is a great option for people looking to get some writing done.
Hiring a babysitter or housekeeper
If you've got more money than time (which is the case for a lot of busy professionals), hiring some additional help around the house is a fantastic way to get some time to yourself and do some writing. You can have a babysitter take the kids off your hands for an hour or two or hire a cleaning service to delegate a few chores.
How not to make time for writing
Here are a few strategies I absolutely wouldn't recommend if you're trying to squeeze in some time to write.
Don't just get up earlier or sleep less
Sleep is as important - actually, more important - as anything else you're doing. Burning the candle at both ends will just frustrate you in the end and you'll wind up dropping your new writing habit the first time you can't haul yourself out of bed.
Don't replace something you really enjoy
Just because something you're doing on a regular basis isn't "productive" or "useful" doesn't mean it's not important to you. Everyone needs downtime. I would recommend against cutting out time you're using for relaxation or recharging just so you can fit in some writing.
Diarize the time and remind yourself
Once you've penciled in a handful of thirty-minute blocks for writing it's time to actually...pencil those in. So, go ahead and add them to your calendar-slash-organizer-slash-diary like you would any other meeting or obligation. Set a reminder if you need to and treat it as an appointment that can't be varied.
Also, if you feel like it, complete the following template and post it in big type or handwriting in each place you plan to use to write:
on the following days: ________________________________.
Signing off
Hopefully some of these tips have been useful to you. If you're interested, I've got a few links down below that point to a few things I've published on Medium recently. As always, feel free to let me know what you think about...anything. I'd love to hear from you.
Yours truly,
Steve
