Finding Time To Write

Like most aspiring authors I have a hectic life. It's chalked full of kids, significant others, animals, school, work, bills that don’t pay themselves, doctors appointments, family gatherings and a whole slew of distractions that make it difficult to get in some uninterrupted writing time.

I swear my children must have a little device implanted in their brains that alerts them every time  mom sits down to write. As soon as I boot up Scrivener the shenanigans begin with yelling, fighting, name calling and tears. In time, you, like every other sleep deprived parent out there learn to tune those sounds out, for the most part. But even tuning out the kids, finding time to write can seem damn near impossible.

~insert long pause… two weeks later~

*points up* See, life is distracting… So here is my point, no matter how distracting life gets NEVER GIVE UP. Keep writing, even if you have put your project down and haven’t touched it in months, pick it up, dust it off and keep going. Writing just five words is five words more than you would have had if you hadn’t picked up that pencil and paper or opened that laptop.

If this is what you want to do with your life, if you want to share your stories with the world (or even just a handful of friends) you have to stop saying “I don’t have the time.” Because let’s be honest, you do have the time. Sure other things are important but if you can tap away playing Angry Birds for an hour on your iPhone (*points to self* Guilty as charged), then you obviously have a little bit of down time to write.

So this isn’t some  “10 ways to find more time to write” blog post. You will find no pointers here, only the truth as I see it. No one said you needed 5 hours a day of uninterrupted silence to write. Carve out what you can, five minutes here, thirty minutes there. For me, every little bit counts, eventually I will reach my goal. And so will you.

And here’s a little bit of tough love for any procrastinators out there like me: If it is a priority then you will find the time.