One of the hardest things about writing–not just being a writer, but actively pursuing that goal to get your work published–is finding Time. The idea of “finding Time” is a common problem for creative people, particularly those with day jobs. You often hear it referred to as “Time Management,” “schedules,” something like that. I’m not a Dead Poet yet, but I much prefer to “Seize the Day.” I do some of my best work when I just carpe diem all over the place. It’s all in how you look at the world, but I think it really amounts to the same thing. Whether you are a task-master type person, a seat-of-your-pants type person, or an in-between type person like me, Time is often the foe of creative pursuits. Time is finite. There are 24 hours in every day, no more, no less. And creative pursuits are, well, creative pursuits for many of us. We may *want* them to pay the bills, we may even believe that one day they WILL pay the bills, but at the moment, we are human, and we want a few other things just as much as the finished manuscript–like for the house payment to be made (see day job), or for our small children to not stand at the top of the stairs half naked screaming “THERE IS NO CLEAN UNDERWEAR IN MY DRAWER MAMA!” (see necessary chores). These things that must be done take Time. And as I said, Time is finite. Yes, there are 24 hours in every day. We know this. And yet, time gets away from us, and it also sneaks up on us. We can practice Time Management because Time is finite, but if your average day looks something like mine, you may want a back up plan:
8 hours–sleep
1 hour–prep for work
8 hours–work
1-2 hours–driving to and fro
2 hours–prepping, eating, cleaning up dinner
This is actually a test to see what kind of a person you are. (Haha, aren’t I clever?) A real task master would add this up and go, “Wait. You still have 3 hours to write. Stop complaining. You’re wasting time complaining.” But another working mom probably goes, “Hey. You missed a few things. Do you ever go pee? Where do your kids fit in? Omg, I forgot to make the sewer payment, are they still open?” And while she frantically looks for the checkbook in the desk drawer, she is inevitably thinking of her own kids, wondering if they will be screaming at the top of the stairs in the morning for clean undies.
So the truth is that, yes, there is probably Time in most days for writing, and the “Time Management” trick is carving it out, earmarking it, and defending it like a honey badger. Which is fine, if you are a honey badger. But for many of us, there will be a day (okay, several in a row every week of your life) when you need to balance the checkbook or pay the bills or both and go to the baseball game, and you will inevitably pass a mirror and realize that you have salad in your front teeth because you did not have time to properly floss after a hurried lunch eaten at your desk so you could leave early to take the kids to buy new cleats because their feet suddenly grew a size and half over night. And in that day, as a creative person, you will feel woeful about failing and losing the fight for Time, for being so horrible at this thing called “Time Management” that is so easily spelled out in books by ladies clad in ironed khakis, electifyingly white blouses, flawless hair, and perfectly beige fingernails whose kids must have clean and pressed underwear ALL the time or they would not be qualified to write such a book. (And by the way, I think these people might be lying just a bit, or that their kids are miserable. Tell me it doesn’t take Time to look like that. Did they schedule that in? What are they NOT doing to achieve their goal of looking so perfect, hmm? Yes, it is terrifying inside my brain. But it is also fun! I start laughing at the oddest moments and people look at me so strangely!)
So my backup plan is total sold out spontaneity. I mean, YES, you can schedule your writing Time. And yes, please do–I plan to write just about every day, but every day I still get honeybadgered to death by life. Kids random stories, phone calls, things I could probably say no to, but those 3 extra hours? My kids aren’t sleeping all that time. I loathe to think about what kind of person I would be if I always said no those 3 hours. So I surrender a lot. And sometimes the best writing opportunities come when we surrender. Sometimes, if you look hard enough under the piles of laundry, you will find Free Time (which isn’t really Free according to the suburban honey badger I previously mentioned, but whatever, I just roll my eyes at her and laugh and tuck her book away underneath my stack of YA vampire novels. Hahaha! She is so cute! Time Management Girl. I just love her.). Free Time can look like a lot of things, but it is often a total gift that you weren’t expecting. Not like a birthday gift, or a mother’s day jewelry box made out of an egg crate. It’s out of nowhere. Like when Child the First goes off with a friend for the day, and Dad offers to take Child the Second OUT SOMEWHERE if you want. The sun is shining outside. And you have a sudden Time Management dilemma. Do you stick to your originally planned schedule? Or do you say, “thank you, yes, I want.” And write? Because it’s what you LOVE to do? And you earned it!!
