Finding vs. Making Time To Write
[image error]Ever since I made writing my career, people have asked me where I find the time to write. I'm never really sure what to say to them. Its not a missing sock found under the couch. You make time. If you can't make time, you can't be a writer; it's as simple as that. You can still write, if your doing a bit of spring cleaning and you find a bit of time that has fallen behind the book case, then by all means write. But to be a writer you must make time.
People always say, "but I'm to busy" Then I ask how Glee was last night, or the tonight show, or those 9 hours of sleep you got. They look away sheepishly. Doing those things is not bad, but they are a choice and you chose to those instead of write. It really comes down to how bad you want it. There are always lunch breaks, one hour less sleep, weekends, showers (my husband hates when I give up this last one to write). I'm not trying to make you feel bad but if writing is your passion then you can find a way to make time. I bring it up like this because finding is passive and making is active. You have spent enough time sitting around and being passive. Make time.
For example, when I finally decided that I was going to make writing my career, I was a newlywed, moving to a new city and my husband had just signed the lease on a building he was going to be starting a retail business in. Not an ideal time to tell him I wanted to run away for 8 hours a day, with a fairy covered notebook and write short stories. So we made a deal, I would give him two years to help him get his business off the ground, then he would give me two years to be a writer and see if I could make that work. I took a difficult job teaching Autistic preschoolers and then second year I worked for my husband in his retail business. The third year, I dove into writing full time? I don't consider those two years a loss, I look at it as, I was living life, and there is no way to write about life with ought living it. What you may consider a waste of time is actually fuel for your amazing stories.
I saw a great ad today that said something to the effect that, the hardest part of running a marathon is the first step out your front door. It's the same with writing. So just remember, Hemingway wrote a sentence a day, and I know you can do that!
