Mary Rosenblum, LR instructor and LR Web Editor, has published 7 novels and more than 60 short stories, including a hardcover collection of her SF stories. A single mother of two young sons, she wrote her first two novels on scraps of paper during the day and late at night.  It can be done. 

 

 

 

 

Finding Time

Writing in Real Life

By Mary Rosenblum

 

           

            You want to be a writer.  Your head is full of ideas, your friends love what you write, you read all the time and you know you can do this!  Maybe you’re taking the Long Ridge writing course, or you sat down one weekend and got three chapters into that great novel you know will sell.   Suddenly, a career as a writer looks much more doable. 

 

            And then…life happens.  You have the day job and when you get home, you’re beat.  Not enough brain cells left to do anything other than turn on the TV.  There’s the yard work.  The dog needs to be walked, the kids have after school soccer practice, and you belong to a volunteer group that  is always asking you to chair projects.  Dinner needs to be made, the house needs to be cleaned, laundry is piling up, and the family wants you to visit more often.  The kids need help with homework, there’s ballet class, baseball practice, PTA meetings.  Your friends keep calling, asking you to come out with them.  There IS no time in your life. 

 

            And that assignment or those first three chapters gather dust on your desk and glare accusingly at you every time you hurry past.  Maybe later, you keep saying.  Just as soon as I ….

 

            Does any of this sound familiar? 

 

            Most of us fill our lives.  We fill them with necessary duties like day jobs, cooking, taking kids to school functions or sports, meals, cleaning, laundry, and yard work.  We fill them with other activities…time with friends, sports, TV, committees.  Most of us have very few hours in the day to lie about trying to think up something to do!  You’re not making your living writing, you have a family that needs you, you have a day job.  How can you possibly justify fitting regular writing time into you life? 

 

Does It Matter to YOU?

 

            Ask yourself how much writing matters.  Do you really want to build a career as a writer?  Do you really want it to be more than a hobby like crocheting or doing bonsai?  If the answer is yes, then you are a writer.  Sales are not required, merely the intent to sell your work.  So get serious!  You need writing time, so sit down with a cup of tea and start figuring out where you fit it in.   Where is writing on your list of priorities?  Way at the bottom?  Move it up!  Right now!  Family comes first, yes, but put writing second.  One day it may be your day job. 

 

            Grab a pen and paper.  Make a realistic list of your obligations, beginning with family.  Include day job, committees, church work, school activities, and the like.  Now look at your list, keeping the importance of your writing commitment in mind.   Rank all those duties in order…what is most important, next, and so on down the list.  Now fit your writing into the list…but where YOU think it should be…not where your family or friends might think it fits!

 

Just Say No

 

            Now look at all the items below ‘writing’ on your list.  Start picking out items to include on a ‘no’ list.  You might refuse the next committee nomination.  You might tell your neighbor that she’ll have to share the driving for soccer practice after school, you can’t take the kids every day any more.  You might tell the guys that you’ll only be able to bowl on Tuesdays now, instead of two nights a week.  Some of those no’s are hard to say.  Some of the people you say them to will be annoyed or offended.  They liked your contribution, obviously.  But remember…writing was above that activity on the list.  And the more you say, ‘I’m sorry, that’s my writing time’, the more you will begin to believe deep down inside that you ARE a writer.  And that is part of becoming a pro…believing  in yourself and your words and putting them first. 

 

Ask the Family

 

            Families, especially younger children, can eat every available second of your free time.  Be honest with them.  Tell them that you are going to seriously pursue your writing, and wouldn’t it be great to see your name in books?  Remind the spouse that writing does mean money, once you begin to sell.  Now ask them to share some of the jobs you have willingly undertaken.  Give the kids extra chores.  Doing their own laundry or taking charge of dinner or pet chores is good preparation for adult life.  Bargain.  If you give me an hour of quiet to finish this book, we’ll go to the park afterward.  Then keep your end of the bargain if they do give you that quiet  hour!  If you are the dinner-preparer, get the rest of the family involved.  It’s good learning experience for the kids, even if the quality of the meal suffers a bit.  J   

 

The Day Job

 

            What about your day job?  How many breaks do you get during the day?  Fifteen minutes spent at the computer during your coffee break can become pages and pages of that novel completed.   Lunch in front of your latest story or assignment is a great way to diet.  J  Bring a sandwich and sit down to that ongoing story.  Even at the pace of a few sentences per break, the pages will begin to stack up.   Can you come in a bit early or leave a bit late? 

 

Write During Life

 

          Buy a handful of small, spiral notepads and leave them scattered through your life.  Keep one by the bed, one in the car, one at your desk, in the kitchen, in your purse.  When you think of that line of dialogue or that perfect next scene, jot it down.  That way, when you get those precious minutes in front of the computer or typewriter, you’ve got something to work on.  You can write an entire first draft to a novel in notes and scribbles.  When you finally do sit down and type it up, you’ll have a solid second draft.

 

            If you spend a lot of time in your car commuting, when writing in a notebook might be hazardous to both you and others on the road, try a tape recorder.   A small microcasette recorder is very useful for recording notes about a story, scraps of dialogue, or even full scenes.  Transcribe then when you have those precious minutes in front of your computer.

 

            Got a laptop?  Bring it to those interminable sports and swimming practices.  If you don’t have one, bring a notebook and a couple of pens.   Find yourself a comfortable seat (or bring a yard chair) and sit down.  You can write an entire novel draft during soccer season!  Same thing if you’re supervising kids at the park.  Keep one eye on the kids and write, write, write, either on your laptop or on that pad of paper.  Even a few words scribbled down here and there keep your project alive in your head, so that you maintain the continuity and momentum you began with.   That way, when you do have that precious time to really concentrate, you don’t have to waste most of it ‘getting back into the mindset’ of your story or article.  You have been working on it right along, and you’re all set to take off. 

 

            Give these methods a try.  You may even find that you are more productive in those few, precious hours than you will be later in your career when you have more hours available.  Life doesn’t have to preclude art.  They can exist together, overlapping each other every day.  Just remind yourself of where your writing belongs in your list of priorities and just wait…that pile of pages will grow steadily, paragraph by paragraph.