Recently, a writer I met at WattCon messaged me to ask how I find time to write. I hope I gave him good advice. But ever since we exchanged messages, I've been asking myself if we find time to write, or if we make time to write?

When I think about finding time, I picture myself looking at my schedule. Some days are busier than others, but no matter what, finding time feels like I'm looking for a parking space on a busy street. Maybe I'll find one, but maybe I won't. Maybe I'll write. Or maybe, between work stuff, family stuff, house stuff, and life stuff, the day will get the best of me.

Making time to write feels much more active. It's like looking at that same schedule and putting down a marker. Or to carry on the parking metaphor, it's like parking illegally. You're going to get a space, and yes, it's totally selfish and you know you shouldn't do it, but like the The Geto Boys song says, damn it feels good to be a gangsta.

For me, the best time to make time to write is the early morning. If I need to start my day at 7am, then getting up at 5am to write is pretty much a guarantee that I'll get my pages done for the day.

Is it hard?

Yeah, sometimes it's really hard to get up early. But I find it easier than writing at night. At night, I can think of a thousand reasons why I should wait until tomorrow to write. In the morning, before I've had my coffee, I'm just not that good at talking myself out of doing something. 

But I don't think it's the time of day that matters. You make the time, which means you pick what works best for you. The important thing is that you make the time. So, that brings me to the following advice: 

SHOW UP AND WRITE

OK, that sounds really daunting. Plus, I went bold, all caps, center text on you. Sorry. But the thing is, you've got to show up to be a writer. Writing is a verb. It's active. It's something you do, not something you defer. 

But you don't have to do it for long. In fact, when I'm really struggling, I tell myself that I just need to do twenty minutes. Some people call these sprints. I like twenty minutes because it's totally doable. 

You can make twenty minutes for writing. 

You can look at a blank screen for twenty minutes. 

You can type total crap for twenty minutes. 

An hour?

No. That sounds insurmountable, especially on a tough day. 

Two hours?

Forget about it.

The entire day?

Who do you think I am, JK Rowling?

But twenty minutes? That's doable.

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When do you write? ✍️⌚️

Do you do writing sprints? 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️

If you have a question, leave it in the comments or DM me!