Anytime of day is fine. If there is time to write then I will take it. I prefer late night (10pm~3am) writing but evening is much more practical as I need to be up at 5:50am - and I'm completely useless to my production team if I don't get 7~8 hours sleep. I find it hardest to focus in the afternoon but if that is when I have free time then I will use it. Right now I'm taking advantage of having some time off and being able to write after everyone else has gone to bed. Only downside is I'm usually tipsy or drunk by the time the lounge has cleared (12~1am) so everything I produce is just gobbledygook.
What do you do for a living? Whether it is school, work or something is that is important and takes up a big chunk of your attention, how do you get your writing to fit in your busy schedule? Making writing a priority, seems to be something that many on this forum would want to do, but explain the steps you take to get that done. I just want to say that I find it hard to make things routine sometimes, and I am looking for neat ways that I can try to do that.
Yeah, that's about it. But you have to decide to do that - write instead of watching TV, going out shopping, or sleeping in.
ditto all of the above... in the past, i wrote full time while raising the last 2 of my 7 kids [which included schlepping them to ballet and riding lessons and performances], running an upscale rooming house and a writing consultant business... i was also an active board member of an arts council and an historic playhouse, for which i hosted cocktail receptions and performances in my own home [which was for several years in a near-constant state of repair and renovation]... if i could find time to write during those ten years, anyone can...
Try out different times to see which works best for you. I like working at night. I also, have given up watching t.v. accept for the occasional movie.
For many years, I was a tax professional in private industry, and for the last 12 of those, I was a tax director. Heavy hours, lots of pressure. In addition, my wife and I raised two children, one with autism and one with ADD and generalized learning disabilities, and I served (and still do) on the board of an agency that provides services to children and adults with disabilities, as well as the state organization of which it is a chapter. Five years ago, when my in-laws became unable to function independently (after stoutly refusing any and all assistance), my wife and I stepped in, organized their finances and their care. How do you find the time to write? Simple: if you want to badly enough, you will. I used to write late at night when the house was quiet. It was my way of reminding myself that there was a part of my life that I still controlled.
Thanks everyone. I tried to find a post like this but couldn't find one, but after posting it I had a list of similar post on the bottom of my screen So, sorry about that. Yea, I just would like to find a sustainable way of writing. I suppose, I could carry a note pad and write during my break period at work, or anytime for that matter. I've outlined my story and more or less know what will happen it's just sitting down to turn it into something, that's the problem. It seem that everyone here is among the mind of find some time and optimize it. My best bet is morning, but I find it really hard waking up unless I have to school or work. So, how do I force myself to wake up for writing?
Stop thinking that it's easy. Finding time to write is hard. Accept that. If writing is important to you, you will write. It won't be easy. It will drain you, but that's the point.
Thanks! I guess that's exactly what I will be doing, writing of course. I know mornings are not my best times, but I will make it a priority just like going to school and work is a priority for me. I appreciate everyone's honesty in how they make their writing work
I work for my BF's company from home so I can be slightly more flexible with my time/priorities. I find that once I start writing I can't seem to stop for at least a couple of hours so as soon as I get the sudden urge to have a writing session I just do it! Everything else will still be there waiting for me once I've stopped for a break!
I am a stay at home mom, homeschool my kids, work part time for a wireless internet company, volunteer about ten hours a week at my church and still make time to write. Simply because I love it! I use every moment I can. Naptime, I write. Outside time, I write. Etc. I am serious about my writing, so I make it a priority.
Sometimes I feel like I have the opposite problem. Now and then I just have to face the fact that I do not have the time to write. For instance, I have to hand in my term paper tomorrow and am finishing it now at 3:42 AM because I decided it was a better idea to spend the day working on my NaNo novel... Guess my saving grace when it comes to finding time is being a hardcore multitasker.
. Because I've always worked watches and shifts, I could be at my best at odd ours of the day. However - all other things being equal - first thing in the morning is good for me: 7am - 10am.
I tend to work during the day, so the afternoon-early evening are the best times for me. Early mornings rarely happen unless I have had a cup of coffee or tea to wake me up.
any time of the day or night, since i often think of something 'in my sleep' and jot it down with the notepad and pen i keep on the bed... and when up and about, it makes no difference what time of day it is... i'm on the computer from the time i wake up till whatever hour at night that i decide to quit [usually 12-13 hours later, though i've been known to go 18-20 when on a major project], with no discernible difference in the quality of what i churn out...
I often do my best writing late at night, usually between 10 and 1ish, which is pretty annoying when i have to get up early in the morning!!
Judging from your sig, I guess that's down to caffeine dependency? Recently I'm doing the majority of mine early before I start my day job, but only because that's one of the few times I can fit it in.
I feel my best early in the day, so my most productive writing days are when I am home and off work but my wife and son are working. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen that often, so I still tend to do a lot of my writing late in the evening when it's quiet. Not ideal, but then I think it was Winston Churchill who said that something like 80% of the world's work is done by people not feeling their best.
Me too. Weekends are MINE and I press them into service for writing In the early morning, I stagger around, like a zombie (shouldn't that word really be 'zomby' for singular and 'zombies' for plural?) until my first sip of coffee. Then, and only then, can I truly consider myself a candidate for the human race.
This is more a question for those with 9-5 jobs, families, and so on. It's something I've been rather worried about lately, Lord knows why considering I'm only just about to enter law school. How do you juggle your craft with your...life? I don't want to think that these next two weeks may be the last time ever that I get to pursue my passion unimpeded.
