Writing Advice #2 – Time

Planning your time is essential.  Most of us have “real” jobs.

Here are my little gems of advice, culled from my own life:

If you’re single and childless (or kids are older & responsible):

• Change your schedule so that you go to sleep at 7:00 PM and wake up at 2:00 AM, and work for four hours before getting ready for your real job.

(I did this for ten years. I was fresher first thing in the morning and got more accomplished in the morning than at night.  If you’re a night-owl, you might want to reverse the schedule.  At first, it’s tough, but you’re carving time out of a schedule to write.)

If you’re married, or single with children:

1. Wake up an hour earlier or stay awake an hour later.  (Frankly, it’s easier to wake up earlier.)
2. Be determined to carve at least four hours a day from your Saturday and Sunday.

• Change your sleep schedule for these days to wake up at 4:00 AM.
• Change your schedule so that you don’t do anything on these days like housework, grocery shopping, and laundry.  This means you have to do them in incremental stages throughout the week.  (This was my method when my children were little.  I still had Mom-time, but I was also able to have some writing time as well.)

The Commute:

If you’re riding mass transit, use a Dana (more under Tools, later).  People can’t read the screen, and it’s lighter than a laptop.  You can carry it with two fingers.

Or use a Sony unit (more under Tools), which is what I did for years.

Lunch:

Several large companies have an area where employees can study, read, or work.  The Dana isn’t a laptop & consequently is not frowned upon by security-conscious firms. (For example, I worked at a bank for years, and they don’t like personal laptops in your office, for fear that you might download customer information.)

If you can, go to the parking lot and work in your car. (For years, I worked in my car in the parking lot.  I know I looked odd, but who cares?)

Or, if you use mass transit, find any semi-secluded spot to write and use either your Dana or your laptop.  If you can work in your office/cubby, great.  I could never get away with it, even with a big sign that said:  At lunch. Even closing my door didn’t work.

You have to evaluate your own life, find moments to steal here and there.  Use a notebook and carry it with you grocery shopping.  Keep a notebook in the car, in your pocket, in your purse.  Jot down those thoughts that come to you in the elevator, walking to the parking garage, sitting on a bench at lunch.

Becoming a writer is adopting a series of habits.

Bottom line, you have to make time to write, and whatever solution you find has to be long-term.  This is a marathon, not a sprint.  Your solution has to fit your life.

I found some great Tools to help me, and I’ll list them in the next Writing Advice post.  Two of them will probably surprise you.