Writing Tip #16: The So-Called "Time Lack" Delimma

You don't have time to write.

Is it true?

So often, too often, this is the mantra of the would-be writer. Unfortunately, when we say a thing over and over again, guess what? The thing comes true.

You may be a person who has plenty of time to write but because you keep telling yourself, "I don't have time to write," you cannot see the truth right in front of you.

Here is a terrific exercise to challenge you right now. This comes from Writing & Selling Your Memoir by Paula Balzer. Balzer is a literary agent and while I don't adore this book, it does have some dead on advice--including this exercise:

Spend a week keeping track of what you do. And when I say "what you do," I mean everything you do. The idea here is to search for blocks of time that can be used in a more productive fashion. Yes, you may have to give up a few precious hours of Jersey Shore viewing or even sleep in favor of writing, but if it's your dream to write your memoir, and you're under the impression that you don't have enough time to do it, I'm by all means going to do everything in my power to prove this isn't the case.

In her book, Balzar posts a chart that lists the day in half hour blocks beginning at 5 a.m. As we don't have the book here today, I suggest you get a legal pad, write 5 a.m. and then go down a line and write 5:30 a.m. and so on all the way down to 11:30 p.m. Next to each of these times, write down what it is you actually do with your time. Do this for seven days and report back. I'd love to hear how you use your time.

Another excerpt from Balzar's book: The tale of how John Grisham wrote his first novel A Time to Kill is part of publishing lore. He wrote the now famous novel over a three-year period in the early morning hours while working an incredibly stressful, 60-80 hour a week job as a lawyer. He also had a wide and two young kids.

Good luck watching your day and writing it down. You have nothing to gain but the truth and a little (or perhaps a lot) of time.