Finding Time to Write

by Susan May Warren

Listen, I know you’re all swamped with working, running a household and writing. You probably don’t even have time to read this blog.  But in the chance you do, I thought I’d give you a few tips that help me juggle my life as MBT Head Coach, being a sports mom and writing.  

1. Establish a set time every day, or every other day to write and keep this time sacred.  Block it out on your calendar.  If you only write “when you can,” then there will always be things that will get in the way…from walking the dog to making chocolate chip cookies…  Set a time, and keep that appointment with yourself, telling yourself you are investing in your dreams. 
2. Keep a writing Journal and every day log what you have done, and your goals for the next day.  You will access different sides of your brain as you are writing than you do when you are working, and instead of always keeping both sides active, if you write down where you were and where you want to go each day, you can let your creative side “rest” while you are at work, knowing you can pick right back up when you return to your writing enclave.
3. Keep a notepad handy for those sudden ideas. I use Evernote – I have it on every device, so all I have to is grab it and add my thought to it. Your subconscious is always at work,  and I guarantee that you will be right in the middle of a meeting, or an email, or even lunch, and suddenly you will hear/see/dream up your next scene.  Quick – grab your notebook before you lose your though and write down just enough words to trigger the memory again, later.  Then, you won’t have lost it, but will have put it into its appropriate place to be pulled out during your writing time. [And…if you don’t want to use Evernote, use your writing Journal.  Sometimes, I turn it upside down and write from the back to the front to keep my revision, creative notes in the same notebook as my daily writing journal.  Then I only have to keep track of one journal!]
4. Rest and Recreate!  When you are trying to write, it’s very important to escape from your story to exercise, or hang out with friends, read a good book, watch football, go to church. Even take a drive, turn on music and let your brain relax.  The well of ideas will run dry if you don’t replenish, so make sure you schedule in time for these.  BALANCE is the key here.  Yes, you’ll need to sacrifice, but you’ll find that if you sacrifice too much, you’ll run dry.  [or lose your mind!]
   

It’s not easy to hold down a full schedule of LIFE activities and write, but if you carve out specific time, set goals, make notes to capture your creativity and stay well-balanced in the other areas of life, you will find that the writing will spill out of you, and that sooner than later, you will have a finished novel!  (or 2 or 3!)

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Establish a set time every day, or every other day to write and keep this time sacred ~ Susan May Warren (Click to Tweet)

Susan May Warren is owner of Novel Rocket and the founder of Novel.Academy. A Christy and RITA award-winning author of over fifty novels with Tyndale, Barbour, Steeple Hill, Summerside Press and Revell publishers, she's an eight-time Christy award finalist, a three-time RITA Finalist, and a multi-winner of the Inspirational Readers Choice award and the ACFW Carol. A popular writing teacher at conferences around the nation, she's also the author of the popular writing method, The Story Equation. A full listing of her titles, reviews and awards can be found at: www.susanmaywarren.com. Contact her at: susan@mybooktherapy.com.