How do you find time for writing? For people that go to school and work, how do you find time for anything else? I find it hard to do anything because I don’t want to get anything less then an A on any of my subjects. School, in and of itself, takes up a lot of time. When you add work to it, how do people find time for anything else?
Well I was always naughty... I used to have a notebook, and write in my boring lessons I imagine with university, I'll have much more time to write.
Here are my tricks: -Sleep less. -Eat while doing something. -Only hang out from friday to sunday. -I do things early. And I don't watch TV nearly as much as I'm online though. PS: And if I have a sudden stream of inspiration, I just stop what I'm doing (if it isn't important) and I write it down. Only on the computer though, I can never find anything that I write it down in my general-purpose notebook.
Not easy! I have had to pull myself away from the forum because I noticed I had written nothing in some weeks!!! I’m here today because the withdrawals were becoming Trainspotting-baby-on-the-ceiling bad. :redface:
Yeah, it's pretty hard. I'm at school and constantly getting homework thrust at me. On top of all the sports I do out off school, I struggle to find time to write. I hardly watch TV nowadays which clears a little time. I guess my social life is limited when I'm not at school and sports.
The only distraction I really have is the internet, like this site and MSN messanger, are my mind easily wanders. I solve this problem by writing on a laptop without internet connection, so there are no distractions. As for school, I seldom recive homework, and when I do, I seldom do it. If I get coursework, obviously it comes first, and in the month or so before my GCSE's, I will start revising, but at the moment, I have loads of free time.
By organizing your time and taking every opportunity available. I'm actually a very neat and organized person even though I don't want to be.
lolz I tend to write whenever I feel the need and I have a lot of free time so I can always work it into my schedule.
I don't know how I manage to find time to write. I guess, it helps that I churn things out at an incredibly fast pace ( 3 pages might take 15 - 30 mins tops). I have 2 - 3 hours free per day (if I'm not cooking dinner), in which a third is spent catching up on sleep. Not much time to concentrate on writing, unfortunately.
I don't usually have that much homework. Most of the time I write at night or early in the morning after my homework is finished. It also depends how you prioritize things. How important to you is writing? If you can't find time and writing is very important to you, you might want to consider cutting down on other optional stuff.
I have no job, social life, or friends, so it's quite easy to find time to write. Even if I did have a job, social life, and friends, I would still find time to write because it's so important to me. It's a priority. That's the only thing one can do, decide what their priorities are. If it's more important to get an A than to write, then that's more important. (Not saying that's wrong, or that seeking good grades isn't as noble as writing, just that sometimes one must choose.) If you can't choose between two things, then you have to choose between two others--for example, is it more important to get an extra half hour of sleep, or to write something? To meet up with friends, or watch a TV show, or go to a sports game, or to finish a story? Everything is a balancing act. Sometimes you have to sacrifice something. Sometimes that means getting a lower grade, sometimes it means not writing a story for a while. Even with no job, social life, or friends, I too at times have to choose.
I have a job, a social life, and friends - All of these things I would gladly give up for writing, that is, if I didn't love them all so much. I didn't say I'd churn out anything good. >_>;;
Right now I only work, and it's hard enough to find time to write. What makes it worse is that it's not even a matter of me having free time to write, but actually feeling the urge to write when I do find free time. I'll usually have designated days to write, though, where I promise myself to get something down on my MS Word screen.
I especially went out and looked for a day job that left me some time to write. Result: I found one from 2 to 9 pm. With the commute and everything, that leaves me the morning between breakfast and lunch to write. Or to surf the net, like I'm doing now.
Firstly, I would just like to say that it isn't just people who go to school, and/or work, that find it hard to make time for writing. Secondly, I was recently studying. I went to class one day a week, for 2 and a half hours. The amount of work we had once we left was equal to 25 hours of work, minimum, a week. I also have two children I run around after 24/7, two parents to run around after and then housework, which is everything from fixing up the house, to chopping wood, and mopping floors. So I have a very busy lifestyle. I have just dropped out of my course, due to my daughters illness and being unable to put her into daycare, because it is too risky for her health. So now I should have another 27 and a half hours a week for myself right!? Well I don't... I have a total of 2 hours a day to myself. I spend that time writing and talking to my BF. On weekends, I get a little more time to relax and write. But other wise... I honestly don't have the time to anymore. Between housework, my children, my parents and sleeping... I just don't have the time anymore to do anything! Now I get up earlier so I have a little more time to talk to my BF. Plus get the housework started earlier so I can get sleep at night instead of being tired all day long and have no energy to write.
I've found that I can make time if I really want to. It's a matter of how much I want to write. It's something that I couldn't live without, so I make time for it. It's about balance. I start on school work when I get it, which, conveniently, gives me more time to hang out with my friends. It's also about recognizing what you do with your time that isn't useful. How much time do we really need to spend surfing the net looking at pointless things? I get on here to connect with people with common interests (and not so common, too), so it's rarely a waste of time. One of my ex's friends said something along the lines of "We can make time for whatever we want to do. We just don't make time sometimes." So my ex always said that she hadn't made time to do stuff instead of "I haven't taken time for such and such." In some ways, we do have a lot of control of what we do. Granted, with kids and such things, we have to use our time in certain ways, but we have, in some way, made that choice.
When the mood strikes me to write and I'm in class I jot down the idea in my little notebook and save it for later. Work on it a little that night, if only for ten minutes. It doesn't have to be a lot. I save most of my writing for the weekends, the time I look forward to for relaxation. Gives more reason to look forward to the weekend. During the week, if I have the strong urge to write I just do it when it hits me and the idea is fresh in my mind. If I don't, and I wait, I will forget everything that was flowing through my mind. Also, something that works for me is, when I get home from class or even in between classes I write before doing my homework. I get more writing done knowing I still have my homework to complete. If I end up not finishing my writing before going to my hw, I always have time to finish it afterwards! no matter what time it is, I always make time to finish, because I'm so eager to get back to it. But, really...finding time is different then making time. You have to learn how to prioritize.
I force myself to sit down and work until I've gotten my word limit, by hook or by crook. Sometimes it means going to bed at four AM, but if I let myself slip once, I'll keep on slipping and nothing will ever get done. So yeah; sheer bullheadedness and force of will, basically. Callous disregard for my personal health doesn't hurt.
It can be hard, but I usually write when when I've done what I've needed to do (study-wise). Though sometimes I will get in a zone and write 1,000 words, and other days will struggle to write, not sure what 'the zone' depends on but that's what happens. I might start doing that for convenience, thanks .
Here's what I do all day, everyday: 6am - 7am: Talk with my gorgeous gf online so I can wake up with her. 7am - 7.45am: Eat and get ready. 7.45am - 8.45am: travel to work and read latest novel. 8.45am - 12.30pm: Work time (I'm a costs lawyer) 12.30pm - 1.30pm: Dinner and writing time. 1.30pm - 5pm: More boring legal stuff. 5pm - 6pm: Travel home and more reading. 6pm - 7pm: Gym 7pm - 8pm: Shower and food. 8pm - 9pm: Finish off writing from earlier. 9pm - 10.30pm: More time with my gf, so it's like I can go to sleep with her. That's my routine. Boring? Predictable? Exausting? Yes, but it gets everything done.
There is never the excuse for not having time. Richard Laymon once wrote that we all have the time to write one word a day. It might take ten years, but at least you'll have a novel finished...
