Photo Credit: Andrew Lazo
Before I begin I would first like to tell you all a little about myself that you may or may not already know. I work 16 hours a week Friday-Sunday. The other four days of the week are supposed to be my ‘writing’ days. Now we can begin.
Generally speaking, we all have a million things going on that always seem to get in the way of our writing time. I’m no different. It just happens that my hours are not spent at a job like I know most of yours are. But I assure you that there are countless things that pull me away from my writing time, because it’s not like we can sit down and write for five minutes and get up. That’s not what I call serious writing. Personally, I can’t write for less than about an hour, and I often write for longer stretches of time than that.
Sleep
But the point of this post is not to tell you how long I write, it’s to tell you why I often find myself not doing so. I hate to say it, but I have an absolutely horrendous sleep schedule. I’ve never put a clock to it, but I figure I sleep somewhere between 10 and 12 hours every 24. Ever since I earned my degree last May I’ve not had that concrete sleep schedule that I had for the previous 16 years of my life when I had to wake up for school everyday. I always find myself napping even after just waking up. I don’t know any other person who sleeps as much as I do. Maybe a baby somewhere?
TV
I’ve reached the point at which I consider myself a TV-holic. Seriously, there aren’t enough hours in the day for the number of TV shows I watch. Here’s what’s currently on.
Monday: The Voice, The Following, Bates Motel, Switched at Birth, The Fosters, Jeopardy!
Tuesday: The Voice, Ink Master, Marvel’s Agents of Shield, Jeopardy!
Wednesday: Nashville, American Idol, Best Ink, The Americans, Jeopardy!
Thursday: The Crazy Ones, American Idol, Jeopardy!
Friday: Jeopardy!
Saturday: Cops
That’s 20 different things waiting for me to watch on my DVR every week! What am I to do with all of that other than watch it?! I have a confession. I usually watch the shows on their original air dates just a short time after they’ve begun so I can skip the commercials. I don’t think any more needs to be said about my TV watching, because I’m sure after looking over that list that it’s apparent I have an obsession.
Gym
I’m a bodybuilder. Truthfully. Even though my training sessions don’t typically last more than about 70 minutes or so, the last thing I want to do after getting home from the gym is sit down and write. I’d rather shower and eat and lie down and watch one of my many TV shows. That isn’t changing. I work much harder than most people in the gym, and frankly, I’m tired afterward. The creative juices just aren’t running.
Reading
I read A LOT. Not so much recently, but I read more than anyone I know personally. I have to, right? Because you can’t be a good writer without having first been a good reader. I love reading just as much as I love writing, but sometimes another author’s book pulls me away from working on my own. It’s a little unfortunate, but my reading is what got me here in the first place. I can’t just give it up.
Just a bunch of excuses
At the end of the day these are all just my excuses not to write, because if I want to write then I will and if I don’t then I won’t. It really is that simple. I may have the next chapter or two or ten played out in my head, but they’re nothing if only rattling around up there. I’m always thinking about my story, but it’s much more difficult for me to sit down and get fingers to keyboard.
So I ask you, what do you do to find time to write?
Johnny Reads 
As I’m not working right now, I have to force myself to NOT spend my entire day writing. On a normal day, I get up, make a pot of coffee, then sit at my laptop for an hour or two and write. Before I get ready for the day or do anything else. (Besides feed the dog. She gets irritated if she doesn’t eat right away) And as far as TV goes, it doesn’t go on until after dinner. I have never, and will never be one to sit and watch TV during the day. If I feel like being lazy, I will grab a book. But never turn on the TV.
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Would you like to switch places with me for like….a week? Please.
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I don’t know that I could handle all the working out, TV watching, or sleeping.
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Well….that’s unfortunate. Maybe I’ll just get a slap in the face from someone telling me to get some writing done.
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I used to make up excuses as to why I didn’t have time. Gotta walk the dog, do the dishes, start a load of laundry (that takes less than 5 minutes)…excuse excuse excuse. That’s all they were. Excuses. What really got me back into the habit of writing was Nanowrimo back in November. It forced me to write every day as much as I possibly could. I did fall short at the end of the month and only made it to 34k words, but I did it. And I’ve been writing every day since.
Set yourself a goal, it helps!!
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I tried setting a goal once before. Didn’t work. I’m not a fan of writing under a self imposed or any other kind of deadline. I just don’t like it. I wrote my first book in three months without one. I’m just being lazy. I’ll finish the book I’m working on at some point. And I’ll finish my third one this year. It’s just not as easy as the first.
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Just do what works best for you, I guess 🙂
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