When writing is your dream job but not your day job, fitting it in the margins of life can be tough. Following are 22 ways to find more writing time:
1. When driving, speak into a voice recorder app. Transcribe it later when you have time. Or you could try a speech-to-text app.
2. Burn a vacation day or more to write.
3. Go to bed early. Then wake up early to write.
4. Get away for lunch and write.
5. Hire a sitter or an in-house helper and write.
6. On your next grocery store run, buy just a few things and use the rest of the time to write.
photo credit: Ed Yourdon via photopin cc
7. Buy a cheap ticket on a plane or train. Go there and back but use the transit time to write.
8. Schedule a creativity retreat with your friends—for an evening or a whole weekend—and write.
9. Go to a conference, but skip a session or two to write.
10. Leave work a couple hours early and go to a coffee shop to write.
11. Use your 15-minute breaks to write.
12. Hire someone to do one of your chores and use the time savings to write.
13. Designate one whole day a month a writing day.
14. Designate one evening per week a write night.
15. Once a year become an all-nighter writer. <Tweet that.>
16. Swap play dates with a friend and use the free time to write.
17. Tell your spouse you need an R & R evening, and go write.
18. Never, ever miss the opportunity of an evening alone to write.
19. Got a boring class or meeting coming up? Write.
20. For your next date night, suggest dessert at Barnes & Noble. When your loved one is browsing books, write!
21. Hire a virtual assistant to do things that can be outsourced. Use the found time to write.
22. Negotiate a three-quarter time work schedule (for a week, a month, or forever) and write.
Be relentless. The time is there if you look hard enough. Remember, the stakes are high, and your dream is worth the effort.
Question: How do you find time to write? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
You have some great ideas here. #7 is very appealing, especially on a train, and just think of all the new characters.
I like a lot of these ideas, Chad. I’m a night owl, so I usually write after the kids are in bed. It makes mornings tough, but if I only do it a couple of times a week it’s not bad.
I think I’ll take a Wednesday off…the one day my handicapped daughter is at work, and while the other one is at class in college. Thanks for the idea.
Finding the time to write can be a challenge. I do love some of your tips and thought that we often need to be as creative with finding the time to write as we do to write a good story, muse or prose.
I couldn’t agree more! One type of creativity leads to the other.
Chad, I love your list! I’ve done many of these; I especially like #20!
Onward!
Thanks, Cynthia! 20’s one of my faves too!
It’s amazing what those of us on the day jobs can get done in 15 minutes here and there and on breaks. I’ve also found that if I just open up my work in progress as soon as I get to the day job that I can find time to do something on the manuscript and I use my lunch time as well rather than talking to coworkers. Love your list!
Jillian, excellent! It’s all about the margins…
It’s great Chad! Thanks for the interesting ideas.
I’m sacrificing my time on social networking site to write.
That’s a sacrifice worth making just about every time, I’d say!
What great ideas, Chad! I confess, I laughed at “write during a boring meeting.” I think I’ll talk to my husband about taking one day a month to write. As a SAHM, I try to devote one day a week to writing, but it usually gets boiled down to a few hours. The idea of one full day a month—love it. It’ll mean cutting out other things, but it’s worth it.
Thanks for the reminder that this dream is WORTH the sacrifice!
Do it, Jeanne! You’ll be so glad you did.
This is great. Thanks for the fun ideas.
My desk is in the kitchen. While cooking supper, I often type a few words in between stirring the soup. It works. Also, I pay my kids a penny per pair of socks they pair and put away. It keeps them busy and takes one more thing off my list.
Oh! I love the idea of empowering your children to do more so that you can do more too. Brilliant!
I’m actually cutting back on work hours starting in two weeks to write my first ebook(s). 🙂
Hip Hip! Congrats, Natasha!
Great ideas. Be relentless is my favorite! My trick on the weekends is to take a little afternoon nap and then hit the writing hard after the kids go to sleep 🙂 I can usually make it to midnight.
Perfect! Love this kind of ingenuity. Your art is worth it, Lisa!