I remember the day I told my father that I wanted to be a writer. He nodded, thought for a second, and, in the most supportive tone he could muster while trying to hide his disappointment from me, asked, “But how are you going to eat?”
His concern was justified, of course. Here I am 15 years later and I am only just at the point of maybe making a little bit of money off this whole writing thing. Truth is, as much time and energy as writing takes up, I’ve still got a damnedable day job to worry about. And I’m not even remotely alone in this situation, but to reach the lofty heights of “getting paid for making things up” still takes a huge amount of time, dedication, and luck. I can’t comment on dedication (you either have it or you don’t) or luck (it’s a fickle mistress), but time? Time is something we all have. Yet, the number one complaint I hear about being a writer is “I just can’t find the free time!”.
To which I always disagree. Not just because I enjoy disagreeing with people (I totally do) but because I always think that people over-estimate how much time each day it takes to be a writer. And, because I’m a Fixer and can’t help myself from trying to help, I always have a set of questions that I follow up with. Such as…
How Important is Writing to You?
And I don’t want an answer like “Very!” or “Its my passion!” because those are not helpful answers. They might be true but that doesn’t make them helpful.
Sit down and think about everything in your life for a moment. Done? Good. Now rate writing in a scale of one to ten, with one being “Not really bothered” and ten being “Sweet Zombie Jesus I MUST do this thing!”. Don’t compare it to anything else or try to quantify your answer. Just tell me how important it is to you.
Did you rate it six or lower? Then I have bad news for you: you’re not likely to find the time to be a writer. Not that you don’t have talent or that you don’t have a great story to tell. You just don’t find it important enough to take priority over other parts of your life. In my experience, unless you rate something a seven or higher in the Priority Scale (I don’t know its actual name. Just go with it), you probably aren’t going to make any major changes to your schedule to accommodate it. Something else will keep popping up that is more important.
Writing is hard. It takes years to learn. It takes longer to get good at. You will be plagued by doubt and insecurity pretty much every moment you do it. If it isn’t a priority to you, you won’t get back up when those rejection letters knock you off your feet.
Walk Me Through Your Day.
No, I don’t actually care about what you do all day. What I’m interested in is how much time you have lying around, waiting to be used for something better or more productive. Not that down time isn’t important, but so many people get home from work and sit on the couch all night and then complain that they have no time to write. For instance, how much time do you spend watching TV? Could that be spent writing? You don’t have to give up TV entirely. Just prioritise the shows you really like.
Sometimes, just cutting one show is enough time to get your writing done. With a bit of practice, you’ll be able to write around 500 words in half an hour. Do that five days a week and you’ve got one novel done and dusted every year without making any significant changes to your life. Just by using the time you have lying around, watching reruns of How I Met Your Mother on E4 every night because they cannot let that show die already.
Who Can Help You?
We are all busy people. I’m not even being sarcastic there. Science keeps telling us that we have more hectic and stressful lives than any time in history where the number one cause of death was “Died in Childbirth”. Between work, household chores, the need to be social with other humans, and the fact that our kids just refuse to raise themselves, we have a lot to do and sometimes we have too much on to get any writing done. So, if you find yourself ranking your writing as a seven or higher and, after dissecting your schedule to extract every possible free moment from it but still not coming up with enough to accomplish your goals, then it is time for the most difficult step:
Ask for help.
Can your partner do the dishes while you get some plotting done? Can they mow the lawn while you bosh out a few hundred words? Can your parents look after the spawn while you polish a chapter till it is fit for human consumption?
Make a list of all the people who you can rely on and think about how they can help. You’ll feel guilty but get over it. Promise them a shout out at the front of the book or a batch of those delicious cookies you make as a thank you once a month.
Make sure they know how important it is to you and how much even though it might not seem like it, these little things are helping you toward your dream. They are giving you the time you need to become the writer you know you’re capable of being.
They say that you never write alone. You’ll have editors and agents and publishers pouring over every word you write one day (or you already do, in which case hook a brother up, yo), but even those of us who haven’t reached that point always have an understanding partner, a supportive parent, or friends who know that sometimes you’ll miss social engagements because that line WILL NOT WORK THEY WAY IT IS GODDAMN SUPPOSED TO!
So that’s why I disagree with people who claim not to have time to write. You totally do, I promise. If it is important to you, you’ll find the time, you’ll change your schedule to fit it in, and you’ll find the courage to ask for help.
A Yank in York 