I have often heard people tell me that they don’t have time to write. I have news for you. NO ONE has time to write. In fact, if you took six months off from work with nothing else to do except write, I suspect you’d get nothing written.
Career writers incorporate small writing chunks into everyday life.
Here are some tips for squeezing in writing despite a heavy schedule:
- Leave the work-in-progress open on your screen at all times.
- Work on it in small increments. If you have only enough time for a paragraph, that’s fine.
- Multi-task — I have a desktop built onto a treadmill in the basement so I can write and walk at the same time. When I go to the gym, I bring a book, either to read for pleasure, for a review, or for research. Doesn’t work on the weight training days, but it’s a great way to not notice how long you spend on the stairclimber, elliptical or bike.
- Either go to bed after everyone else or get up before everyone else. Those quiet times give you writing chunks.
- Write on the weekend. Write at soccer practice, in waiting rooms, on the bus, in the airport, on holidays.
- Revise copiously in your head so when you finally have a chance to get it on paper, it’s more polished than an early draft.
- If you get painted into a corner on one manuscript, pull out another and work on it. Switching back and forth can prime your creativity on both stories.