Respect Your Writing Time

How do you find time to write and hold down a full-time job?

Simple question. Not so simple answer. I’ve posted about time management, but in a way, that’s the easy part. Penciling in those neat little boxes of your calendar, or mapping out your weekly plan on your phone or laptop is just the first step. Keeping those commitments to yourself is a whole lot tougher.

Something always seems to get in the way. Something or someone pushes against or bleeds over into your thoughtfully reserved writing time.

What to do?

Learn to say No. Easier said than done, I know, but practice makes perfect. We really do train people how to treat us. If they learn that we mean what we say, they will start respecting our boundaries. If we always capitulate, change our schedule to accommodate theirs, they will keep doing it.

Respect your writing time. If you decide that Saturday mornings from 7:00 to Noon is an ideal time for you to write, let friends and family know, turn off your phone, put in earplugs, find a quiet place to work, and just do it.

That doesn’t make you a hard-hearted bastard or bitch. If you reserve time for the important people in your life and are nurturing those relationships, they won’t resent you blocking out time for writing. Also, if you take your writing seriously, they will, too. At first, they will think of it as interruptible, unimportant, hobby time. You have to train them to think of it differently.

I have a saying I use with my 6th graders when I want them to work independently and silently for 20 minutes: “Does anyone need anything? No? OK. For the next 20 minutes, unless you are bleeding, dying, or throwing up…”

They get it. So can you.