When you’re super busy, it can be hard to find time to write! I know as a recent high school grad with a part-time job, lots of volunteer work, and some non-writing hobbies, it can be hard to budget my sit-down-stare-at-the-cursor-blinking minutes in.
But sometimes I just need to think outside of the box! So here are 5 Times You Can Sneak Writing In.
#1: Early in the morning.
If you’re an early bird, this may be something you’re doing already, but getting up before the sun cracks the sky and the rooster crows is one way to get some extra words in.
Set your alarm for super early and creep over to your laptop before the kids are up, the dog wants out, or your day job calls (or all of the above)!
#2: Late at Night
I’m a night owl, so this is especially practical for me. I stay up until all hours to pound out those extra words!
So dose up on caffeine and pick a couple nights a week when you don’t mind not being aware of life all of the next day, because we’re drafting!
#3: In the Car
Unless you get super carsick, this is one option for you! I’ll always bring a notebook or my Kindle or something to write on wherever I go, and oftentimes I’ll sneak a few words in during a road trip.
Also, be sure you have some way of writing on your phone! This simplifies things as you have your phone with you almost everywhere. If you must resort to texting your story to yourself bit by bit, do it.
Note: please don’t write if you are the one driving your car. Unless you’re narrating into a recording device, of course. 😉
#4: Waiting in line, waiting for appointments, waiting, waiting …
Again, bring along a notebook or your phone (Kindle in my case) and sneak a few words in while you’re waiting to be checked out at that ridiculously packed grocery store or to see that ridiculously busy doctor*.
Also, it’s been proven by Disney that DMVs are ridiculously slow, so be sure to bring a notebook if you ever visit the DMV, too.
*Let’s be real; #1 reason I’ve never had a doctor’s appointment. 😉
#5: In between everything else.
If this is possible, tell yourself to do one thing for twenty minutes then write for five. And MAKE those five minutes be a thing!
One example of this is twenty cleaning, five editing. Set a timer and do it!
In addition, don’t be guilty if your season of life doesn’t allow writing!
Maybe you’re a mom with littles who need all your attention or a college student who needs to keep her grades up.
Maybe your other career is at a point where it needs your full attention.
Or maybe you just need to focus on other things for a time, give yourself a writing break.
If you must give up writing for a bit for whatever reason, you can come back to it. Sometimes life just doesn’t leave time for writers, especially if it’s not at the place of a career for you.
However, if you don’t want to stop but feel that you are too busy to write at this present time, any of those 5 tips could work for you! Give them a try.
And there you have it! I hope you enjoyed the post. Let me know what you thought in the comments!
TTFN!
~Kellyn Roth~
p.s.
Do you struggle with writing during the busy times? Have you ever taken a writing break? (I plan to take one when I’m 25.)
14 Responses
Great ideas! I would write late in the night but sadly my laptop shuts of at 11. *cries* but I usually do my writing or editing at night, or until I run out of screen time.
Well, you can always write with pen and paper. 😉 My internet goes off at ten, but I can use my laptop all night if I want.
I do that when I’m desperate. XD Sadly my entire laptop shuts down at 11 so I can’t use word at all…
Aw, too bad! Well, at least there’s always a notebook!
Oooh, I loved this!! I’ve been seriously struggling with scheduling out my writing time lately, so I think a few of these tips are really going to help me out… I am DEFINITELY not a morning writer OR person, though, so staying up late is normally when I find myself getting the most writing done. I also really need to stop getting distracted by YouTube and Pinterest and working on my writer’s progress journal, though… Aha. 😅😅 But that tip about working on your phone?? I LOVE that. I think a lot of my issues with scheduling writing time is because I’ve been in and out of the house, but working on my phone (I HAVE tried this before, but only to write snippets that I think up on the spot) sounds like it’s the perfect fix!
As always, this was a fabulous post, Kellyn! I’m currently in the car, so I wasn’t able to try out the podcast, but I might jyst have to check it out later!!
Haha, I’m NOT a morning person at all either. 😛 YES, definitely! Write on your phone! It’ll help a ton. I was just doing some writing at the museum and then in the DQ drivethrough, lol, and it was awesome.
Thank you!! <3 <3 <3
WEIRD THING. Like right after I wrote this comment, I started getting most of my writing done in the morning………? I AM SO CONFUSED AND SLIGHTLY TERRIFIED WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME.
Oh my goodness!!! I’m not sure if I’m more excited by the fact that writing on your phone actually works or that you went through the DQ drivethrough and got ice cream (I’m guessing?) because I absolutely love ice cream and now I want some…
WHAAAA?? That’s weird! xD I still aren’t getting my writing done in the morning – though I have suddenly been ultra productive at night. I did 15 pages (edited) last night in like an hour … which is a lot for me at my present state. 😛
Haha! 😛 Yes, it does work, lol, and I did get icecream. *nods* It was delicious!
I KNOW. It’s like I’ve finally discovered my most productive times, and the fact that it’s in the morning is pretty much the shock of the century… Perhaps if I tried I could be a morning person…?? 😂 WHOA!!! Fifteen pages in an hour??? DUDE. TEACH ME YOUR SECRETS, PLEASE.
MMMMMMMM. I mean obviously the ice cream was a reward for all the writing you’ve been doing, so. 😂
A book coming out in a couple weeks is a great motivator. 😛
AHA. See, this is a motivator I have never experienced before. 😂
LOL! 😛 Well, it’s a new kinda motivation …
But it seems like it worked, so I mean?? 😂