You Won't Find Time to Write in Your Couch Cushions

I thought I'd share the highlights of my "Finding Time to Write" presentation here on the blog.

First of all, if you're waiting to write until you find the time, you will never write! Sad, but true. We cannot find the time to write. It's not hiding under the couch cushions. We have to make the time to write and we have to make that time count!

So, how do you make time to write? Make a list of everything you do each day, and I mean everything--from working to eating to sleeping to combing your hair. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Done? Okay. Take a good, hard look at that list. Are there activities you could spend less time on? Are there any you could eliminate entirely?

Here are just a few suggestions for carving time out of your day:

Get up a half hour (or even fifteen minutes) earlier, or go to bed a little later

Take the bus to work and write on the bus

Take a few minutes of your lunch break to write

Trade off babysitting with a friend

Make a double batch of dinner and save half for another night

Watch less TV (or no TV!)

Let your family pitch in on cooking, cleaning and other household tasks

Settle for a less-than-spotless house

I think you get the picture. The bottom line is that writing (or doing anything worthwhile) requires sacrifice. There are some things you may have to give up in order to spend time writing. Only you can determine what those sacrifices should be. Just make sure you're not sacrificing the wrong things. I firmly believe that we should never sacrifice our relationships or our health (physical, emotional and spiritual) for writing.

What are you willing to sacrifice for writing?

Next week, we'll talk about how to make your writing time effective.