Where do I get my time to write? This is a legitimate question and one that writers get asked often. My answer: I make the time. I leave a messy house, noisy children,  and lesson planning behind and go to the library or one of the Panera/Bread Companies to write. If there are children there, they aren’t mine and don’t need my attention. If the music is loud or has words, I tune it out.

Or, I write in the morning after my quiet time and before we start school. With two teenagers, they like their sleep and this sometimes works. During the summer it’s easier, although the past two summers with all their activities, it was actually a little harder.

Let it go

My house is often dusty and cluttered, and dinner isn’t always spectacular–meaning it might contain two of the five main food groups. Piles of books and magazines, school books, mail and newspapers sometimes take over the living areas. I have to work hard to maintain the massive amount of paper that comes into my house. (Can’t we go back to flannel graphs?) If I can, I get the mail myself and drop half of it into the recycle bin before going back in the house. This eliminates several pounds of clutter a week.

Because my older two children are old enough to babysit, I can leave them in charge for three or four hours a couple times a week. This gives us all a much needed break from the routine of school, etc.

Discipline

There’s also that thing called ‘being called to write’. If I am going to honor this calling, this takes discipline to follow through. You know that story of Jonah and the whale from the Old Testament? I really, really, really have no desire to live in the belly of a whale. Not for any length of time. Nope. It’s just not on my list of things to do. So, I do what it takes to get the writing done. Which means something else has to go (or in my case-several-reread first paragraph).

Yes, sometimes finding time to write is hard. But it’s necessary. In order to be a writer, one has to write.

How do you find time to write? Do you have ways to fit writing into a packed schedule? Share in the comments, they may help another reader.

~~Michelle