Mom’s Write: Quiet Time

I don’t know a mom who doesn’t crave a little quiet time–a little time to relax and reset for the next thing that’s coming up. But if you are a writer, you need quiet time to write. If you are a mom with little kids, you might think quiet time is something unattainable. But it’s within reach.

Nap Time

When your kids go down for a nap, instead of putting in another load of laundry, unloading the dishwasher, or cuddling up with a good book, steal that time for writing. I know, your house will be less than perfect. But you will feel better when you’ve written something. When my daughter was first born, all I wanted to do was take a nap when she did. The thing that saved me was that I was writing under deadline, so it forced me to write when she napped. By the time our son came along, I was really in desperate need of a nap too. But nap time was a perfect time to write.

But I Work Full-Time

Do you work full time? Me too. I wasn’t always at home during nap time. However, when my kids were young enough for naps, we weren’t gone a lot on weekend afternoons. We did our errands and work in the morning, then the whole house sort of settled down in the afternoon. It was a routine we established, and I utilized it to get writing done.

My Kids Have Out-Grown Their Naps

My kids have out-grown their naps now too. However, we usually still enforce a quiet time at least one afternoon during the weekend. Right now, it’s typically on Sunday afternoon. After my oldest child gave her up naps, I couldn’t afford to lose that hour or two of writing time. I gave her books and art supplies. I worked and she worked. It took some time to train her and it often didn’t last as long as the real nap, but I took what writing time I could.

Now that my son is older and not napping, he’s happy playing quietly in his room or watching a movie on Netflix while I squeeze in an hour or so of writing time.

What’s Your Secret?

Now that I’ve told you my “quiet time” secrets, what are yours? Do you have a magic hat that you wear to let your kids know that you are working? Do your kids have a favorite past time that they do quietly while you are writing?