Last week, I had to go and talk to a local writer’s group about time management for writers. It occurred to me as I printed out my handouts that many wannabee writers that I have met—and spoken to on this very topic—return again and again for the same lecture. I mean, I’ve been leading this group for six years, and every year they ask me to talk about Time Management. How do I find time to write? they ask. What they really want to know, though, is: How do I find the time to pursue my dream?
After six years of giving the same tips, I start to wonder. Is it REALLY about finding time? I think these people who come to hear this talk again and again are there because they are hoping that somewhere amongst my tips about getting up earlier, taking the work with you and having a notebook in every room of the house, they’ll find the secret to why they aren’t writing.
My personal opinion? I think it’s not about how much time you have or don’t have. We all have twenty-four hours a day. I spend my twenty-four differently than you do; you spend yours differently from your neighbor. Whether you choose to set aside one minute, one hour or no time at all for your writing (or whatever your dream happens to be) is all your choice.
And that, my friends, is, in my opinion, the real problem for many writers. It isn’t about tips and tricks on fitting more into your writing day. It’s about deciding that finishing that book or short story is a PRIORITY to you and then making the time, wherever you can find it.
To do that, you first have to look inside you. Are you afraid to write? Hands down, that’s probably the number-one reason most people come to me, month after month, looking for a magic cure to their “block.†Guess what?
There is no magic cure. There isn’t, in my opinion, such a thing as writer’s block. There’s only you and a piece of paper. Either you choose to fill it or you don’t.
There’s the key—you CHOOSE to fill it. You CHOOSE to ignore your doubts and your fears. Heck, yes, you might get rejected. You’ll live through the rejection–I promise. I’ve been there a thousand times myself (just because you’re published doesn’t mean the gates of publishing heaven open and everything you write is brushed with gold).
Despite having more than 30 books under my belt, I still battle the temptation to play Freecell every day, sometimes every hour, every minute. The parts of me that doubt I can do it again urge me to put the book off, set it aside, ignore it, do something far better with my time (like shop and spend money I haven’t earned yet).
Hmmm…sound familiar? Ask yourself, is it REALLY about finding the time to write or is it about finding the courage to face that page?
Maybe you’re reading this because you want some tips, some magic cures. I’ll give you a couple—but remember, the real cure is right inside you already.
1. Do it for one minute. Baby steps, said Richard Dreyfuss in “What About Bob?†Start with a baby step. Sit down and write for one minute. Put on a timer, grab a pen or a keyboard and just write.
2. Realize the words don’t matter at first. You probably read the first tip and said, “But I don’t know what to write about! I have no plot, no characters, no what-if situation…nothing.†Fine with me. I start that way a lot. I don’t care if you write the words to the “Star-Spangled Banner,†the point is to get something on the paper. Sean Connery tells young Jamal in “Finding Forrester,†to start with someone else’s words until your own start coming. Write your opinion on a news story. Write a letter to your grandma. Write a list for the grocery store, then when your fingers get comfortable, start with anything you think of.
3. Stop pressuring yourself. Lots of us expect this great story to start leaping off the page right away. Hah! When you find the secret to that, let me know because it would save me a lot of effort. Give yourself permission to write junk, to write pages and pages of basically regurgitated words. Why? Because once you get those ones out of the way, you’ll get to the true story. It’s there, just waiting for you to get past the other stuff.
4. Don’t be your own worst enemy. You know how this works. You sit down to write and suddenly remember the Rose of Sharon bush needs pruning or that denim jacket you hate to wear needs to be mended. Your “what if I have to finish this, what if some editor hates it, what if I can’t write, what if, what if, what if…†mind can find five hundred different excuses that stop you from writing. Tell it to SHUT UP and let you just do what you came here to do.
5. Remember this is fun. Writing is not supposed to be torture (okay, there are days when revising is not fun and I just want to be done with the book, but overall, nine days out of ten, I am having fun). If you are dreading every second, then you are either writing the wrong thing or thinking the wrong thoughts. Give yourself permission to have fun with the words, laugh at your own jokes and cry at your own drama.
6. Stop looking for a secret. Use the tips you find for what they are: tips. The true secret, however, to finding the time to write is MAKING IT A PRIORITY. Deciding this is important to you and carving out time every day, whether it’s ten minutes or ten hours to devote to it. Deciding that this priority is more important than your fear of failure, your fear of the unknown and your fear that you really don’t know what the heck you are doing.
Remember when you were a little kid and learning to ride a bike without training wheels? It was a scary time, wasn’t it? You could fall, break your head open (as your mother often told you, though I’ve never seen a head broken open), or worse, you could be the only kid on your block still using training wheels in the eleventh grade.
But you persevered and kept trying and falling, trying and falling. Putting a little time in every day after school because your goal was bigger than the what-ifs. Eventually, the training wheels came off, you were on a “real†bike and Lance Armstrong had some competition in the neighborhood.
Take the training wheels off your writing. The time is there; you just have to reach out and grab the handlebars of your dream.
Shirley
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Excellent!
I learned time management little by little, first as a nanny and then as a mommy when each new child arrived and then as a homeschooling mommy, and finally as a homeschooling mommy of four who polishes up a new novel for submission every six months. Although, I have to stretch that six months into eight months this year because of the new baby coming. A List of Priorities is an essential part of time management!
So, I think writers need to remember it’s a learning process too.
There are some excellent books on time management out there, but only the writer can make herself do the writing. There is NO MAGIC. It’s work. You just have to do it.
Or learn to live with the regret that you could have done it, but didn’t.
I agree, Kimber An. No magic…except hard work!
SO true!
I know so many writers with ‘no time’ to write yet they watch hours of tv a week.
I agree that it is more about fear than anything else. Most successful folks (and by successful, I mean they accomplish their own goals, whatever those may be) learn to live with the fear. It won’t ever go away. I know that if I’m not afraid, I’m not stretching myself, and if I’m not stretching myself, I’m not living up to my full potential.
Go out there and scare yourself!
Great point, Kimber, about fear and stretching yourself. I think every step of this job comes with some degree of fear, but that’s part of what makes it fun and different every day. I tell my friends that if I ever get complacent, that’s the day I should quit.
This is an awesome reminder for those of us who keep going back to those ‘how to write’ books that there is no secret. Writers write. Always.
Thanks for this.
LOL, Deena. I could sell one of those pocket books at Borders. The secret to getting published: Write.
There. Hand over your $9.95 at the register, please. LOL.
I SO agree with this. I’m tempted to send the link to a member of my crit group who is just “too busy” to accept that joining the group included a commitment to read, write, and give feedback. If he can’t find the time, he’s never going to move forward with his writing dreams of publication.
I meet tons of people like that, Terry. They stay stagnant for years and years. And then keep asking me why they aren’t published. Duh.
Thank You.
My friend Dean Wesley Smith recently blogged that he found himself getting angry with fans at conventions who said to him “I always wanted to be a writer, but I just don’t have the time!” Implied in that statement — meant to be a declaration of solidarity — is the assumption that the only difference between a writer and a person who dreams of being a writer is abundant free time.
I work a day job — a major time and emotion sink in public mental health — but I also write. Am I perfect at this? Of course. Not. In two separate 90-day intervals — with exactly the same number of hours and minutes in each of those days — written a 90+k-word novel that was published and failed to deliver 144 humorous horoscopes (a 9-10k project) on deadline. The difference was commitment, confidence (believe me, after the first 20 or 30 humorous horoscopes, nothing seems funny), and willingness to prioritize.
Writers write. Writers who get published write, finish what they’re writing, mail what they’ve written to a paying market, and immediately begin writing the next thing.
On the whole I do fairly well at this. Right now I am under deadline on three projects and every free moment I can devote to writing is devoted to making myself write. Too often, however, my precious writing time is spent on YouTube, or episodes of NCIS I missed or, um, Romancing the Blog.
I agree, Kevin. Prioritization makes a huge difference. It’s simply a decison you make every day, sometimes every minute of the day (like today when the sun is shining and I’d SO much rather be outside than indoors working on a book due in July).
Excellent blog Shirley. Thank you. We’ve all been there. I’ve tried to balance my writing time by cutting out the TV and getting on with the writing. But I have to have my “treats” and those are my blog sites. Even so I’ve cut them down to a maximum of 10 sites otherwise I’ll be on the internet all day (and night!) Take care. Caroline
LOL, Caroline. I hear you about cutting back. It’s tempting to try to do it all!
Very true. To me, a “real” writer isn’t someone who gets published or hits the bestseller list. It’s someone who MUST write, no matter what…and we all have a lot of “whats” that all too easily squash out writing time otherwise.
Many who still ask the “time” question might be willing to make writing a priority, but deep down may not believe it’s okay to do so. I felt that way for some time, so I kept getting stuck on the time issue. Consider this post a permanent permission slip to embark on regular fields trip into fiction writing!
Stephen King, I think, is the one that says if you act like a real writer every day, you become one. Just sitting down, writing day after day…develop that habit and before you know it, you are published. I agree with you, Lisa. It’s about writing not publishing.
The TV is the biggest evening time-suck, ever. My kids have a bedtime, now, so I do have the time to write that was hard to find when they were babies and toddlers. Wonder of wonders, if I can resist the siren call of HGTV, pages magically appear!
What a helpful, honest blog, Shirley. There isn’t a writer out here who couldn’t use this reminder once in a while. The fear of not being “good enough” seems to disappear fast enough when we’re right up against deadline! Thanks for the shot in the arm at a perfect moment!