Juggling

[AAlicia88]

The holidays have come and gone, and I am faced with a new semester. I am a full-time student (Biology Major), work full-time as a bookkeeper, and a mother of an eight year old. With all this going on it's difficult to find time to write, which is all I want to do. So I ask you, comrads, how many balls do you have in the air and how do you find time for your WIPs?

[taylormillgirl]

I don't watch any television. Seriously, not a single show, sporting event, etc. Editing my novel is my only hobby right now. I also let things go around the house a little and buy more frozen meals, but hey, it won't last forever. :-)

[marilyn peake]

This topic is close to my heart, as I'm sure it is for most writers. It's very hard, but I've been juggling lots of things for years and just try to set aside a certain amount of time to write each day. After finishing my most recent novel – a science fiction novel entitled GODS IN THE MACHINE – a couple of months ago, I decided to take time off from writing until after the holidays. I’m delighted to say that I’ve started working with Alan Rinzler on the editing of GODS IN THE MACHINE. He’s going over my manuscript now, and the plan is to begin consulting by phone, brainstorming and discussing possible edits, by the end of this month. I think the consultation should help motivate me to fine-tune the manuscript and get excited again about the story I want to tell. This month, I’m hoping to exercise, get lots of sleep, clean my house and do lots of stuff I find hard to keep up with when I’m writing.

[CharleeVale]

I'm a full time student too. It's tough! You just have to make time for it. My mss. would have been finished ages ago except for the fact that i don't even have time to write 1,000 words a day.

CV

[lexcade]

i know the feeling. my manuscript sat half-finished through years of college. i started it in high school. the problem isn't finding time to write--it's MAKING time to write. i had a prof in college who teaches 3 creative writing classes, plays in a band, and has a family. he still finds time to write under two different names and contribute to the Wild Cards anthologies. if he can do it...

we have to be marathon men and women these days. we have to set aside time just for us that is for writing. heck, i used to write during a bath...

you know, they do make waterproof paper... ;-)

[Seamus]

I have found that reading and writing both take a hit when my reactive life takes over. I got advice and inspiration from two sources. First, a friend of mine reads non-fiction mostly and I asked him once how he seems to be continuously in the middle of something new and interesting. He told me he stays up until he has read ten pages each night. Similarly, one of my colleague's brothers has published extensively and I know something of his consuming fulltime day job. I asked my friend how his brother did it and he said that he committed to writing one page a night. Now I know that this sounds stilted, and some writing jags take more than a page-worth of attention. However, I've found that forcing to write something awful and uninspired on a given night does, in fact, advance my story. I then go back on the weekend and polish what I've done. I'm not going to pretend that I've been perfect at this, but the idea of it allows me to reduce the enormity of a piece to what I have to do today. Hope this helps.

[Emily White]

I'm the mother of two little boys ( two and six months) who don't seem to want to take their naps at the same time, so yes, it's hard to find the time to write. I usually have to wait until late at night when they're in bed and the hubby is content to do something by himself.

[Holly]

The holidays have come and gone, and I am faced with a new semester. I am a full-time student (Biology Major), work full-time as a bookkeeper, and a mother of an eight year old. With all this going on it's difficult to find time to write, which is all I want to do. So I ask you, comrads, how many balls do you have in the air and how do you find time for your WIPs?

You have to make the time to write, like others have said.

To be honest, I can't imagine finding time to write with your schedule, but there might be 30 minutes a day in there somewhere. If you have time to watch TV or post on the internet, you could be writing.

I had a full-time job, took care of my seriously ill husband, managed his medical care, did all the housework, home and car maintenance because he was too ill, plus took care of two dogs and four cats, and wrote a novel. I wrote something every day, no matter what, even if it was just a paragraph. Sometimes I wore earplus and wrote while the Yankees were on TV so I could be in the same room with my husband. Because he was a wonderful person, he also gave me the okay to stay up until two in the morning and write in the living room.

Put writing time on your calendar. Schedule it. You can even write outside your home where you can't be pulled by all the important things you need to do. Get together with other writers once a week for several hours in a library or coffee shop and write just like a study session. That works really well for me.

Good luck! You sound like a winner. And remember that family is important, too. Enjoy your eight-year-old.

[Crystal]

I somehow manage to juggle 2 part time jobs, 2 kids with basketball and music, church, home and a husband.

On Tuesday nights my kids have basketball, 1 practice right after the other. Even though the church they play at is 5 minutes from home and I could go home between drop offs, I don't. I stay at the church, plant myself firmly on a couch with my laptop and use the 2 hours to write.

At my one job I work at the front desk of a gym, from 7-11pm. Not a busy time there so I always take a printed copy of my wip and either edit or add to what I have then I type it when I have time.

My kids are older and when my daughter gets in trouble I generally make her do chores around the house. That helps lighten the load for me.

Also when my hubby looks at me with the "I want attention" eyes, I just say...do you want the book done or my attention??? Lol it works sometimes.

[AAlicia88]

I do consider writing ME time since it's what I enjoy and find it relaxing. I purposely schedule long breaks between classes and sit at the library on my laptop writing. When I do have a day off, I take my daughter to school then sit at the computer most of the morning while everything is still quiet and still. Then a lunch time... housework. I manage, in a "Bird By Bird" kinda way. It's just nice to know that I'm not the only one spending all day at my day job wishing I could be writing.

[MedleyMisty]

I'm pretty lucky.

I don't have kids and I don't go to school and my job is fairly easy and non-stressful and gives me plenty of time to think about my story. And I have a wonderful husband who does all the mundane upkeep stuff like housework and paying the bills and all that. So I generally have a good few hours a day to write and all day on weekends.

Which is good, because I spent five hours on one paragraph last night and it still needs a lot of work. Got the first three sentences to something approaching decency though. :)

Are you guys ever accused of being too "obsessive" because you want to write and want time to do it and enjoy it? The people who live with me IRL and have to actually put up with my writing and my love for what I see as my art are cool with it and don't have a problem but strangers on the internet have said that I am too obsessive and need help.

[kristi]

I work PT outside the home and FT in the home (kids ages 2 and 5). Between Kindergarten, basketball, swim lessons, and art classes for the kids, things like laundry tend to go on the backburner (and luckily, I have one chore-doing hubby who rocks). However, I'm with the other commenter here in that I don't watch TV. I have maybe an hour or two after the kids go down at night for my writing. Even if I only get a handful of pages edited before falling into a sleep coma, at least I do something each night. I think of every chunk of time I spend as a baby step -- and I firmly believe that goals are reached after hundreds (okay, thousands) of baby steps.

[Jaime]

I used to watch TV like it was going out of fashion, but when I started my MS 12 months ago, it became my priority (after my now 16-month-old son).

I write while he sleeps, which hasn't been much lately because of our ridiculous heatwave. America and UK, can you please send us Aussies some of your snow?

I'm usually up writing until 3am every morning. My son wakes up around 9:30am, so I'm lucky. Now I buy my TV shows on DVD and watch them all at once if I'm getting frustrated with editing and simply need a break!