“It’s so nice that you have the time to write.”
“I wish I had time to write.”
Statements like this make me cringe. Recently, I’ve seen a lot of this online, which makes me want to go ranty mcrantypants. (But I don’t.)
I don’t have time to write. I make time to write. Like many writers, I have a job, a
family, commitments. Writing time is precious. It’s not going to smack me upside the head and go look, writing time. (And if it does, you bet I seize it.)
No. I have to grab time by the clock hands and wrestle it into submission. I cram writing into nooks and crannies. I give up other things (like TV and a really clean house) to write. I write on the couch with animated movies in the background. I write on my daughter’s bed. I write outside. I write late at night or early in the morning. CHARMED VENGEANCE was written almost entirely in one-hour intervals during my lunch break at work.
I don’t have the time more than anyone else. I make time.
Why?
Because writing means something to me, so I give up things in order to find time for it. It’s just like anything else — you make time to watch that TV show you like, or spend time on twitter, or make a quilt, or practice an instrument, or play a sport.
If you want to write (or do anything else — paint, dance, etc.) don’t wait for the time to wave at you. Make the time. (It might not be easy, I give you that. Also, you might have to wait out something, I get that too. Life happens. I know that far too well.)
However…you don’t have to make lots of time. Even writing for five minutes means you have more words than the day before.
So do it.
Figure out where you can squeeze in a few minutes — during commercials, cutting back social media by a few moments, getting up ten minutes earlier.
Grab time by the clock hands and make it your bitch create time. I dare you.
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Suzanne Lazear is the author of the Aether Chronicles — a YA fairytale steampunk series. INNOCENT DARKNESS and CHARMED VENGEANCE are out now. FRAGILE DESTINY will be released 8-8-14.
Nice article! It really is all about using what time you do have (we all have 24 hrs. in a day) to your literary advantage. 😉
And they say they don’t have time to write as though we are such entitled dilettantes to have so much time to waste.