Keeping it short and sweet this month: this is part two of tips for writing when you've got no time to write. Part one can be found here.
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* Over-commitment, Writing Sprints, & Vultures
By Ali Coyle
This might sound laughably obvious, but for me one of the most consistently difficult hurdles to maintaining a steady writing habit is actually getting words into a document. It is tempting to simplify this complicated issue down to one factor, “finding the time to write,” but even that simplification hauls in a host of problems of its own like fleas on a new pet.
If it was simply a matter of finding time, then by now I would have finished the novel I’m writing, completed that multi-chapter, rare-pair crossover fic that will be appreciated by about six people (and I love you all), and planted a whole new crop of fanfic ideas to pick from when they’re big enough to flower. My employer sent us all home on 20th March and didn’t want us back until 1st September. I had over 5 months of working from home.
Guess how much I wrote. Go on. And I had all that time.
To write stories means getting my creative brain in gear. To be creative, I need space to daydream. The stories that make it into tweet threads and documents are ones I have already told myself over and over when I’ve switched my brain off (or at least turned the volume down a bit and maybe knocked the tuning off-station) and I’m temporarily lost in a universe inhabited only by my characters, original or borrowed, and their interconnected lives are the most important thing I have to think about.
But having my writing space become my workplace, and having a head full of worries about shaky job security and uncertain risk from a virus potentially deadly to those close to me who already have medical conditions, does not make for relaxed musing on the challenges of there being only one bed, or the best way to have two people from vastly different backgrounds get over their egos in time to have them sharing that one bed within 5K words.
To write stories, I do need time. To find writing stories enjoyable, I also need a fair bit of escapist daydreaming before typing a single word. Otherwise I end up staring dejectedly at a blank screen, frustrated that the stories won’t pop out of my head when I want them to.
I resolve to give myself that creative time and space back. I’m not talking “me-time” because it’s not realistic (for me) to block out sections of the day and put “writing time” in my diary. And “if you wanted it badly enough you’d make time for it” is a phrase designed to soak overcommitted people in self-blame and guilt. I would like to choke, stab, and disembowel that phrase then leave it for the vultures.
Where will this time come from?
What if inspiration strikes at some unscheduled instant? What if I’m out for a socially-distanced grocery shop and I overhear a snippet of dialogue that showers sparks over a half-formed idea and makes it flare up there and then?
I will be ready for it. Back when I was churning out a short fic or adding a few hundred words to longer stories almost every day, I snatched moments like these. My iPad mini and Bluetooth keyboard fit in even my smallest bag and I rarely cross the door without them. At a pinch, my phone’s dictation function takes liberties with my accent, but it is certainly better than nothing.
Setting achievable targets helps me make good use of limited time:
Bronze – think about your story and play a scene in your head like a movie, imagining how the dialogue will sound and what the setting will feel like, then make some notes.
Silver and gold – these targets build on bronze. Writing sprints sometimes work. Set a timer, vomit words, don’t edit. Twitfics make me go forward with a story because I can’t go back and edit tweets, and getting real-time reader interaction is motivating.
Before long, I will once more have a WIP folder full of documents that hold the scattered seeds, roots, stems, branches and leaves of the stories I’ve told myself, just waiting for me to use 10 minutes here or 20 minutes there to connect all the parts into something that might flower and bear fruit.
So I’m not waiting to “find the time” to write. More often than not it’s the time that finds me. I just need to relearn to recognise writing time when it arrives.
Ali is a scientist by day, an aspiring artist by night and a writer all the time. Find them @AliCoyleWrites on Twitter and Instagram.
Take Time Before (But After Coffee)
By Carman Curton
How do I find time to write? That’s a bit of a story. Want to hear? Then come in. Come in closer.
A few years ago, I gave up writing. Just quit. My family was in desperate financial straits. Writing was taking time from my second job. And my first one. Not to mention my family. And that other job: housework. But – of all of the crap life was raining down on my head that was making me miserable – the thing that hurt the worst was not writing. And I was doing that to myself.
For me the solution to how do you find time and energy to write after everything else? is not to do it after everything else.
Do it BEFORE.
And that’s all it takes. I set the alarm and get up one hour and five minutes before we all have to get ready for the day. Five minutes to make coffee. One hour to write. It’s that simple. And once it became habit, it got easy.
Something else happened while I was doing this. I decided to write and just stop expecting that someday I would get paid for it. I wrote for one audience: me. I wrote for one purpose: to write. And I haven’t got bored yet. I’ve even published a little.
For me, that time is sacred. It is the time I give to myself and to my stories, and I try to keep it that way. Once waking up and sitting down and picking up my pencil (yes, I still use a pencil) became a habit, the stories started to flow.
It was like I opened a door in my brain, and stories starting walking through.
I’m not going to tell you this method will work for you. I’m not going to tell you that you have to write this way or you’ll never produce anything of value. I’m just going to say it works for me.
Mostly.
In the real world, life is not perfect and schedules get disrupted. Sick kids keep you up all night, work, lockdown, or family emergencies take you out of your routine for days. Some days you just want to sleep. So sleep. I sleep in too, sometimes. But then I realise I really want to write. I have a story I want to tell or a character I need to let out of my head, and I know that won’t happen until I make the time and the place for it. So I do. And it does.
And that’s the story of how one old lady with a family and a few jobs and a seriously distracting Twitter habit makes the time to write. It’s not happily ever after. But in some ways, it’s an even better story.
Because it’s real.
And it’s mine.
Carman C Curton consumes caffeine while writing microstories called QuickFics, which she leaves in random places for people to find. Find her on Twitter.
Atlin Merrick @atlinmerrick
I know we want it all but, well, sometimes we can't have every little thing and for me, not having much television in my life has led to me finding more time for writing. Don't get me wrong, I binge on glories like Brooklyn Nine-Nine or The Haunting of Hill House to keep the well filled, but about ten years ago I learned to stop watching TV by reflex. Another thing I do is make use of boredom. Waiting at the doctor's office for example? I either daydream about a story in progress or pop out my laptop and tap-tap-tap.
DaisyChainz @NotDaisy
My goal for this year was to write every day. For me, "write every day" means being flexible. It includes: writing, editing, brainstorming and looking at prompts. It all moves you forward! It also keeps me in the habit without pushing me to write, write, write, even when I'm tired – which can lead to burnout.
J Baillier
Inspiration is overrated. All I need to do to write is to open the document. And I do this many times a day. Fifteen-minute break without any active tasks before my case at work is done? I write. Downtime when I'm on call? I write. Waiting for a gym class to start? I dig out that laptop once again. Planning elaborate, hours-long writing sessions just might be a good way to ramp up the pressure so high that one ends up just procrastinating for the duration. That's why I weave writing into the fabric of my everyday life.
Jen C Flynn
This summer was a busy one for me work wise, even with Covid. Squeezing in writing time wasn't easy and most days, I failed. But, on the day I succeeded, I managed to get some writing done on my phone at lunch and between influx of guests. (While praying nobody caught me. Shh!)
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'Writing' Involves More Than Writing
By Daisy Chainz
Advice? About writing? And time?
Write everyday! Write Every Day!!
Okay, okay, things are both more and less complicated than that, but here's the lucky thing: there's a lot more involved in writing than just, well, writing.
Sometimes "writing" consists of brainstorming, reading, creating prompts, writing up a timeline, or working out characterizations and relationships. Editing counts too, even if all I get done is deleting what I wrote last time.
But writing also includes making certain my story makes sense and there aren't any glaring inconsistencies. I count making up character names too, if I'm especially tired. Or stressed. Or it's almost midnight. Honestly, coming up with titles should count as a whole session itself, am I right??
If I'm especially exhausted, sometimes I'm okay with watching shows or reading books for whichever fandom I'm writing for. It's called Research™ thank you very much.
With this way of looking at it, I do manage to "write" almost everyday. I know and respect my limits and have to balance them with my (realistic) self-imposed deadlines.
I want to continue enjoying my writing, the whole process. So, it's important that I don't burn myself out (for more than just writing reasons). I love being a writer, and definitely want to be here for a long time!
Stacy Noe is a pen name that's gotten little use – because Stacy has been writing Kylux and GO on AO3 as DaisyChainz for almost a year! (She's also on Twitter!)
Handling Rough Days: 2 Tips
By Leyna
I have both a full-time job and ADHD, so finding brain energy to write can be tricky, especially since I find my most creative time of day is after I should be in bed.
I tend to do most of my writing on the weekends right now, but when I do have a little extra mental energy during the week, I consider myself lucky to get any words down at all. I can't maintain the "X words every day" thing that some people can, so I take any words written at all as a win. Sometimes it's pages, but sometimes it's only a sentence or just a plot note of something I want to address later.
Pushing myself when the energy isn't there just leads to frustration, as I end up sitting at my computer staring at a blinking cursor. I'm better off waiting. I also cannot compare myself to other people's speed or turnout. That gets me and my WIP nowhere. I have to remind myself of that a lot, but it's getting easier with practice!
I've got a couple of 'tricks' for being 'productive' even on rough days and those are these:
1) Everything I write gets a playlist.
I can listen to the playlist at work (and add to it if inspiration strikes) or when I'm traveling, and it gets me thinking about the story and the characters even when I'm not able to write anything down.
The playlist is also a good focus point for when I am sitting down to write; I sort of train myself that this music = thinking about these characters, this story.
2) I carry a paper notebook with me pretty much everywhere I go.
I hate writing on my phone, so if I have an idea when I'm not able to pop into my work-in-progress, I write it down in the notebook so it's not lost for all time. That's a lot easier to manage on a break at work or when I'm out running errands. I reference my working titles in the corners of the pages so I can use it for more than one WIP or even for non-writing things and still know which bit is for which story.
When not writing, Leyna can usually be found doing needlepoint and yelling at hockey teams or TV shows. Also on Twitter and AO3.
Book Peek: Strangest Day So Far
Life-changing injuries, a shared hospital room, a monster at the door – can you think of a better way to fall in love?
Come take a peek inside Strangest Day So Far, the first in GV Pearce's Eldritch Roads series, and Improbable Press' next book, out this month:
A hot flush of embarrassment washed over Ronan when he realized he’d been caught staring, though the other man didn’t seem to mind.
In fact, when he finally made eye contact it was to wink.
He seemed to be wearing smudged eyeliner despite the bruising across much of his face. Ronan couldn’t tell whether it had been added after the fact or just never washed away.
He looked thirty-something and his eyes were the warmest shade of brown Ronan had ever seen.
The blush returned for a second wave – he’d gone from staring at this stranger’s chest to staring into his eyes.
“Well, someone was singing out of tune,” Ronan snapped, trying to hide his embarrassment with anger.
Abruptly the man laughed, deep, loud, and unrepentant except for a small wince when his bandages pulled at his healing wounds. Despite that flash of pain his face almost glowed with his amusement. If Ronan had thought he was good looking before, he was stunning now.
God, what a prick, Ronan thought, why did he have to be stuck in a room with someone this beautiful and annoying?
“Aww you think I’m a beautiful prick?” the man crowed, laughing again in a way that made Ronan wonder what medication he was taking. “Wait ‘til you see my cock!”
Oh no.
*
Strangest Day So Far is a story about finding love and acceptance while learning to live with trauma, disabilities, and the supernatural. Because nothing is ever as simple as it first appears, but we can get through anything with the right person at our side.
20% off Strangest Day So Far For Spark readers only, it's Atlin's birthday but you get the present!
Order the ebook or paperback of Strangest Day So Far
with discount code Strangest Day Spark, and
we'll take 20% off the price of the book, and any other books you order.
Offer ends 15 January 2021, 5pm New York time.
