Your time to write

Revision update: I feel as though I’m finally making progress. Phew! I’ve revised the first 10 chapters and am happy with the changes I came up with. All in all, I’ve cut about 14 pages in my reworking so far, and I think the story is the better for it. I took the revised first two chapters to my critique group last night and they got the thumbs up, so I’m moving forward now. The rest of the book should go much more smoothly. I’m probably not going to make my end-of-November goal, but I will have the entire book revised by the end of the year.

Talking about critique groups, we started off last night with a chat about writing. One member said she was having problems getting time to write.  Others of us agreed that you can’t find time, you have to make it. Some of our members mentioned a recent talk they had attended with an author who had written and published 29 books, and that making time to write was essential to helping her achieve that.

For my part, I told her that with my first book, I started out writing whenever I had time and it took a couple years for me to get only halfway through. When I dedicated myself to writing every day, I finished the rest of the book in about three months and then a revision in another three months. My second novel was written in three months — the entire novel — all because I was making the time to write every day.

If writing is important to you, it should be given a high priority. Even if writing is technically a hobby — that is, you’re not getting paid — if that pay cheque is what you’re striving for, you should treat writing as a second job now. You can make up for the sacrifices later, when you’re a best-selling author. 🙂

Making time to write means carving out a time that’s dedicated to your writing and then being selfish about that time. For me, waking up an hour or two early was the best way to make time to write, but for you, maybe it’s one afternoon a week, two hours every Saturday, or whatever. No matter what the time period is, making sure you stick to it and you don’t allow anything to interfere with that time. It’s your time for your dream — be protective of it.

Do you have a time that’s just for your writing? When is it?

Write On!

3 Responses

  1. Sandie Lee says:

    Good for you…Hang in there 🙂

  2. Vonna Carter says:

    Alas, I will not make my end of the month goal either, but sometimes there’s no point rushing things. I like how my novel is shaping up, so I’ll just keep slugging along.

    I’m so lucky with my time to write. My family is not picky (to put it mildly) about having an orderly home. We are companionable introverts and get absorbed in our individual activities, all in the same room.

  3. Thanks, Sandie. Let’s hope I can keep it up. 🙂

    Vonna, yeah, I agree completely. No point in rushing; better to take your time and do it right. That’s great that you have so much support from your family. It helps a lot.

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