AHHH!! no free time to think and write

[Vel]

Does anyone struggle with separating homework/work with writing? i'm currently in the middle of doing health science and calculus homework at the same time and was suddenly bombarded with creativity and thought of so many ideas for what i'm writing. I want to stop and write everything down but i know school is more important. gahh!!

 

[Chasejxyz]

Yeah, you gotta find that balance. What might work well for you is to figure out how to quickly jot down notes when you get ideas. Use whatever note app you have on your phone or carry a notebook with you. You don't need to use full sentences, use bullet points or whatever feels good, and you can get back to it later.

 

[MisaMai]

I always keep a notepad next to me as I am doing homework or work at home. Where I struggle is I work as a hairstylist and when an idea strikes as I'm cutting hair I have no way to jot it down. It drives me absolutely crazy! When I am working on schoolwork I always take the time to write down ideas mostly because I know I won't be able to concentrate if I let it rest in my head for too long.

 

[Prince of Spires]

My solution was to only on the rarest of occasions do homework.

I suspect this is probably a bad solution for most people, but I could get away with it...

 

[Stevie]

A day without calculus is a like a day without sunshine. There's never been a day since I passed my maths exam that I didn't find some use for it*.

Seriously though, taking a bit of time out from study to do something that exercises another part of your mind can help you perform better at the orginal task. It's to do with the left and right sides of the brain and the way it deals differently with creative and logical work. Take ten every hour to scribble down those ideas then get back to the grind!

*All facts in this statement may have been exaggerated for dramatic effect.

 

[skip.knox]

No, no, it's: a day without calculus is a day without limits ....

 

[Eztlirald Clarinda]

I graduated high school last summer and with having two jobs, no computer/laptop, chores, moving, and writer’s block... my mind has gone insane! (This next part will sound weird) But I swore to my characters that I would finish what I started; that I would write their story and would NEVER give up on them. Therefore, until I find the time and the tools, I talk to the characters. I world build. I ask questions and explore the country falling deep into the darkest corners of my mind.

But yeah. The no time thing... totally understand. I would sit there and rush through all my work or completely ignore the lecture my teachers gave me and write. Because believe or not, school was the only time I could ever write anything.

 

[Stevie]

I graduated high school last summer and with having two jobs, no computer/laptop, chores, moving, and writer’s block... my mind has gone insane! (This next part will sound weird) But I swore to my characters that I would finish what I started; that I would write their story and would NEVER give up on them. Therefore, until I find the time and the tools, I talk to the characters. I world build. I ask questions and explore the country falling deep into the darkest corners of my mind.

But yeah. The no time thing... totally understand. I would sit there and rush through all my work or completely ignore the lecture my teachers gave me and write. Because believe or not, school was the only time I could ever write anything.

I get where your coming from. And it doesn't sound weird. You've committed to your craft. But carving out the big chunks of time that writing demands can be difficult. I'm sitting here, trying to re-write an ending to a novel. I keep looking out the window and wishing I was out in the sunshine... tomorrow I'm going to get up earlier and try harder. Writing is a bitch sometimes.

Still, sounds like you're doing a lot of the right things. Don't have a laptop? Get an A4 note pad and write long hand. Not advisable to do a novel that way but you can still work on your writing craft. Get those good character sketches and plot ideas out of your head and on to paper. But yeah, just walking around and thinking is part of writing. I spent the first two months of this year working out a story line for a novel. The end result of sixty days of work was about ten pages of notes that outlined plot and characters. It doesn't sound like much but from that I was able to write an 80000 word first draft in the next two months. So the development work paid off.

Writer's block? I don't know. I imagine it must be incredibly frustrating. Sometimes you just can't seem to write the thing you want to write. I did say writing was a bitch sometimes. Write something else, anything else. Write about what you did today. Send your characters on some dumb, short story quest to get a pack of gum from the shop. Put your characters in a bar, fill them with ale and have them get out without a fight. Write a few scenes with your characters in another gender. If you can't move that block out of the way then maybe you need to go around it somehow. Seeing things (or writing things) from a different perspective might let you do that.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

In fact, being busy with other things tends to trigger creativity. I suspect this is my lame attempt to come up with an excuse not to get sh-tuff done, as if I then go to write, my brain goes blank and I wanna take a nap. Heh heh.