Finding time to write

I’m guessing that a lot of writers don’t have my problem – too much writing? Right?

I read a half dozen writing-related blogs regularly, as in daily. At one time or another almost all the bloggers covered the subject of “how to find time to write” in detail. This concept stymies me. Even when I worked two jobs I found time to write. I might not have been pounding the keys on my laptop but I did write.

Until I got smart and started carrying both a tablet and a recorder, I’d find myself jotting notes on the back of grocery store receipts while waiting for a traffic light to change. Once, while standing in line at the bank, the people in my head were engaged in this lively conversation and since I didn’t want to put the words on the back of my deposit, I actually jotted them down on the palm of my hand.

I keep my laptop powered up at all times but if I’m involved in another project in some other area of the house and an idea or thought materializes, I can’t just dump what I’m doing, run to the computer, and put it down. Besides being inconvenient, this move can be counter productive. How many times do you go from one room to the next to take care of a task but forget what the task was when you arrived? My solution?

I keep three things in every room of my home, a radio, a notepad and a pencil.

The radio isn’t too germane. But the other two items are.

In essence, the notepad and pencil mean I can always squeak out a minute to write.

My crazy method might not work for everyone. I just point it out to illustrate how I worked around the problem of finding time to write.

(If you're still searching for your own solution, try these books.)