When do you write?

[Bill Meyers]

Lack of time to write is my #1 excuse for getting so few words on paper (or monitor). I'm an amateur writer, so my writing has to take a back seat to far too many other priorities, but I suspect this is the case with most of us. When do the rest of you find time to write?

[John Uhri]

I tried to get up early this morning and write, but fell asleep on the couch with my laptop.

Writing in the evening seems to work better, except when I've too many other priorities that end up pushing it back until I am too tired to do it.

I need to reset my goal, which was to write 100 words a day, every day. This might not seem like much, but it was just enough to get me going. Author Jean Rabe told me if I just wrote 300, I'd have a novel done at the end of the year.

[Erik Deckers]

It depends. If I'm writing a humor column, I write it Thursday over lunch, and polish it up and send it out Thursday night. If it's for a book, I grab my Moleskine notebook and go to a local coffee shop and write for an hour, whenever I can.

[Rae Kridel]

Moleskine should start paying you for marketing ...

[Theresia Whitfield]

I find I'm most creative in the middle of the night but that's kind of hard to do when you have a husband! So, I try to get as close to that time as possible. I make sure I have my meetings set in the mornings - I never meet in the afternoons - and am back in the office all afternoon, writing uninterrupted.

[Christopher Wright]

I've never been able to subscribe to the "x number of words a day" or "everyday for y minutes" ethic.

Being a perfectionist (read that as obsessive), my writing style tends to lean toward editing as I go--as opposed to long intervals of streaming words on the page. I sneak whatever minutes I can, whenever I can.

[Lori Lowe]

Hi Bill. I'm slow to reply but have struggled with this as well. I do corporate writing and marketing for various clients and try to find time to work on a book I'm writing. It never fails that project work crowds out the writing. My newest strategy is to leave one day a week free of meetings and most other commitments. It takes me a while to get into my research and start actually writing, so I need more than a few minutes here and there. I'm using each Friday as my writing day, when fewer people are in the office and so I'm more likely to be left alone. Evenings after my kids are asleep can also work if I'm not too tired.You just have to decide not to turn on the TV or sit on the couch.
Good luck!

[Rae Kridel]

This is the question, isn't it? I have a very crowded head and no time to get it out. Family and bills and income comes first. Damn family. ;-)

Seriously, when I have the luxury of writing, my most fertile time is the mornings. Good music, good coffee and a good night's sleep does wonders for my creativity.

[Matt Rouge]

Hi! Writing is my job (www.marrubiumwriting.com), so I do it all the time. Here are some various scenarios:

1. Project with short deadline. Pretty much forced to work on this *now*, regardless of mood.

2. Project with medium to long deadline. I will of course meet the deadline, working on this whenever I am particularly in the mood and at the same time trying to avoid the deadline becoming "short" and thus forcing me to work on it *now.*

3. Longer-term project with no specific deadline. One example of this is the biz-lit book I'm working on with a client right now. I try to work on it whenever the spirit moves me, but the client still expects some progress each week, so I sometimes force myself.

4. Projects with no deadlines. E.g., my fiction and poetry. I try to work on these whenever I'm inspired. I keep a lot of projects open, sometimes nibbling away at one, sometimes taking giant bites.

So, the short answer is that I write 1) whenever I'm inspired and 2) whenever a deadline makes me. Either of these could have me writing at any time of the day or night, especially since I write a lot for Japanese companies and am often operating on Japan time.

I do love writing, however, so although I get mini-blocks and even entire days when I don't feel like writing a word, I don't feel like sitting on the bench for long.

[Debbie Clason]

Hi Bill. I'm new to the network so I'm not sure if you're still looking for contributions to your post. I've been freelance writing for 30 years and often have the same problem you do. One of my tricks is to keep a notebook with me at all times. My thoughts hit me at random times... often as I'm watching television late at night. Advertisers won't want to hear this, but commercials are a great time to jot down thoughts and ideas! Sometimes that's all it takes to get going.

[NealTaflinger]

I write nearly constantly these days as it's my full-time job and my part-time job, but before I wrote for a living, I would work on stuff before work, on my lunch break, when the boss wasn't around, at night. I sacrificed a lot of my social life for storytelling but I am doing what I am passionate about now.

[Robby Slaughter]

I recommend finding a writing partner or a writing group to build some accountability. Writing is like exercising; deciding to do it is hard, doing it is harder, and finishing is the best feeling of all. A partner helps tremendously!

[Eric Wyatt]

I write when I can, but attempt to spend significant time writing at least four times a week. The part-time jobs and constraints of real life are a draw back, but I try to do what I can.
Last week, for example, I was able to write about 9,000 words for my novel in progress, four blog posts, several promotional emails and messages, and a couple other things, all while sub teaching four days, tutoring for 4+ hours every night, and dealing with dying dog issues...hectic, yet productive week...