Finding time to write getting tricky?

[Cloud]

Hi everyone,

I've written semi-seriously on an off since my teens and am now in my late twenties.

Nowadays I work a 9-5, have an 8-month pregnant wife (so baby due very soon now - and I get all the housework! ) It's hard enough to get out rock-climbing once a week or catch up with some mates.

I'm finding it increasingly hard to set aside time to write.

I've never been very good at snatching a few lines here and there - I much prefer to get in the zone and hammer out a chapter. I've been trying to jot a few bits down on my lunch break, or on the bus back from work - but it feels scrappy and disjointed.

In college, at Uni, even after - there was always time when I was on my own without distractions!

I can't be the only one to hit this wall. To grow into a life, and a family, and find something you love getting squeezed. Any helpful hints from the older crowd?

 

[Steerpike]

I can only pass along the advice I got from someone who started out when he was poor, working a lot of hours, had kids etc. Not that I follow it, but he said to require of yourself a set amount of time for writing each day and stick to it. If it is half an hour, then fine. An hour is fine too. But you do it every day, no matter what. If one day other responsibilities intrude and you are looking at 11:00 PM and you haven't written yet and you despise the very thought of a keyboard, you do it anyway.

I've heard more than a few people claim this is one possible secret to success, but I haven't applied it faithfully myself. I also saw some advice that said once you set yourself an amount of time (or number of words) don't exceed it either. So if you're writing for an hour, then at an hour you stop even if you have momentum carrying you. The idea is that in the long run you'll average out to more, whereas a long, exhaustive session can put you off track for a few days. I've never actually applied this idea, so if anyone has I'm interested in how it worked.

 

[JCFarnham]

I know what you mean. In Uni I wrote a LOT. Nothing good and permenant mind you, just some throw away roleplaying and such, but still, I did it. Now that chapter of my life is closed I've noticed my "productivity" dropping some what. I mean what I do write is more focused and more worth while in my opinion but there's far less of it. To make matters worse I burnt myself out pretty bad on NaNoWriMo last november and am only now really getting back into the swing of regular typing.

I'm the kind of writer who has to block out the world. Now, some time this year I'll be moving in with my partner... I imagine I'll be writing even less!

This isn't even including work.

 

[Penpilot]

I've heard what Steerpike mentioned said several times by busy authors in similar situations, so I'll second that. Now, as someone who's single and has no kids, I have an idea on something you can try.

Do you outline? The reason I'm asking is I find that I can work on outlining in small spurts almost anywhere. I do it when I'm in the shower, riding the bus, or moments before I fall a sleep. So maybe you can do a super detailed outline and edit and revise that until it's almost perfect before you jump into the prose writing.

One of the many methods I use to map out my stories is the 7 point story structure used by Dan Wells. Here's him detailing it out on a series of youtube videos. Dan Wells on Story Structure, part 1 of 5 - YouTube The reason I bring it up is because it's a really short and simple way to map out and weave plots together.

I have no idea how much this'll help you, but hopefully it'll get you somewhere.

 

[ThinkerX]

For me, writing is usually a winter thing. Has to do with the long cold dark winters in this part of the world. So...spring hits, I start wrapping stuff up, and then it is busy, busy, busy withj mostly outdoor things for the summer!

 

[Claire]

It is tricky! I have three young children, I homeschool the oldest (soon to be the older two) and work a bit in the evenings (from home). Time is not something I have in abundance. I pretty much sacrifice housework and sleep. Not helpful, I know.

I too, have a tough time trying to write when I know I'll soon be interrupted, or need to stop for some reason. It has taken me a long time of having babies and the subsequent responsibilities to get back to writing on a regular basis. I guess a few things have helped. I keep a notebook with me all the time, so I can jot down ideas whenever I have a free moment. I have also trained myself to work in shorter spurts, rather than waiting for those times when I can get lost for half a day. I don't have many of those times! My husband is also very accommodating and will take the kids on a weekend afternoon (when he's home from work) or after dinner in the evening so I can have some uninterrupted time. For a while, it was a regular part of our schedule but that has fallen by the wayside a little. I need to see if we can find a day/time that works to do that again.

I think sharing the responsibilities and allowing both you and your wife to have some of that much needed alone time can be helpful, especially once your baby is born.

I have also allowed myself to breathe and know that my life will not always be quite this busy. My kids will get older and I will find a balance that will allow for more dedicated writing time. That isn't right now, but things change, families grow and I won't ever stop being a writer. So patience helps.

Congratulations on your growing family!

 

[Cloud]

Good tips. Nothing I've not heard before, but sometimes you need to hear the same advice a hundred times before it works it's way through a thick skull

Claire - Thanks!

 

[Justme]

i drive a truck and have a lot of thinking time on my hands, but little time to transfer thought to paper. As a result of this, there used to be a lot of ideas that would spring up, while I was driving and then dissipate into the realm of forgetfulness, before I had the time to record them. I finally opted to spring for a old fashioned cassette recorder, with a headset and mic attached to the appropriate connections. This system works wonders for retaining ideas and allowing them to grow when I have the time to rehash them.

This system might help you out, by keeping your thoughts safe, until you have the time to address them. I know, I have ideas that reach back 2-3 months and they are just as valid today, as they were the day I first thought of them. I have speech recognition software, but I haven't experimented on using the cassettes on that. In theory, it might work, but i sound a lot different on tape.

 

[The Dark One]

I think you have to find a way to set aside some regular time and stick to it. If you don't have much time, you simply have to scale back your expectations until you can devote some better time.

When you have only a little time you treasure it - and you produce good work.

 

[Telcontar]

Justme touched upon what I think is the most important thing: Making use of the time you can think about writing even if it isn't time that you can actually write. Driving in the car, sitting on the bus, waiting in line, doing the dishes, etc etc. There are a multitude of mindless little tasks we do that don't really need our attention.

I'm at a similar place, though replacing the pregnant wife with 'get involved in too much' (which, all in all, I imagine leaves me better off spare time-wise). Still, I have little time to actually write. Here's how I've made up for it:

- I make sure to keep my last stopping point in mind. I remember the last sentence I put onto the page, and I focus on composing the next bits in my head. I intend to get a recorder so I can voice aloud and keep it all rather than simply trying to remember the gist of it (I hate it when I compose the perfect line of dialogue in my head and forget exactly how it went by the time I can write it down).

- Keep copious notes on your phone, or failing that a small pad of paper that you carry around.

- Learn to be more productive in the time you can write. With all the thought you've put into your writing at other times, actually sitting down should let you get more words onto the page. Personally, I needed to learn to cut out the hemming and hawing I did whenever I sat down to write. Now, by the time I open up that story, I've already got the next line in mind. Pro Tip: Lunch breaks are great for this. I've written thousands of words on my lunch breaks in the last few months after scarfing my food.

- Outlining was mentioned above, and remember it can work at varying levels of resolution. You can not only outline a book, but a scene, a paragraph, an important conversation, etc.

-Here's one that never seems to work for me, but I tried it and I feel it could work for others: Learn to skip things. If a particular passage is giving you trouble, skip it. Move ahead in the story and write as if you'd finished that part, and go back later when you have real time to concentrate on it. Like I said, this didn't work for me... I can't seem to skip around in my narrative and keep writing effectively. Instead I use thinking time to break down the hard parts.

 

[Christopher Wright]

I'll tell you how I do it.

I sleep less.

I have a full-time job (and my wife stays at home with the daughter, at least for the moment, so it's our ONLY job) and I have 3 year old who is very, very demanding on my time when I am home (because, you know, your kids like you until they become teenagers. After that I expect my free time will increase dramatically. )

So I drink more coffee and stay up later. And -- this is the hard part -- I play fewer video games. This is painful because I'm a City of Heroes addict.

But the thing is, it's the only way it works. Until I no longer have a day job, I have to live on reduced sleep because there's too much to do. And occasionally you will crash for a week--your body will shut down at 8 or 9 and you'll have to sleep, and you'll lose a week of productivity. But it does allow me to get stuff done.

 

[Cloud]

Mr Wright... that sounds eerily prophetic for me