Making Time to Write: Prepping for Busy Times

I don’t typically watch reality TV, but I have seen previews for the Doomsday Preppers shows (Note: I’ve never watched an episode). From what I understand, it shows people and how they prepare for impending fall of society as we know it. How much food do they grow and preserve, how much water and electricity they are able to get without being hooked up to a government source?

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about when schedules change for back to school and how to get ready. It was mostly about assessing where you are in your writing, but today I’m talking about preparing for your writing to succeed even when it gets hectic.

It takes prepping.

And I’m not talking about the kind where you make your own solar panel and live off the grid, though that would be interesting.

I’m talking about the seasons of your life when things get so busy you have no idea how you are going to maintain a connection to your writing. For me, the school year is a busy time, especially the beginning and the end of the school year when hours put into my day job suck both my time and energy. This is my 16^th year of teaching and I just know this is how things go. I expect it. I prepare for it.

There are MREs in the house (the homemade kind), the laundry is clean (thanks to my husband), and I have made plans for how I’m going to handle my writing in these busy times.

I write for a solid hour in the morning from 5:00am-6:00am. That’s the only guaranteed, uninterrupted writing time. But it’s only an hour, and in order for me to make headway in some upcoming projects, I’m going to have to figure out when I can get more writing time in.

1) Schedule your writing time.

I know this seems pretty obvious. But we schedule our doctor’s appointments, our haircuts, and our kids’ activities, so why don’t we schedule writing time? I think because it feels indulgent. But truthfully, if we don’t schedule it, it probably won’t get done. Kelly Stone talked about this in her guest post on my blog.  You may not be able to write everyday, but one suggestion I have is to take a look at your calendar a week at at time or a month at a time (depending on how far out you know your work schedule and kids’ schedules). Block off a few times to write. Maybe it’s during your child’s piano lesson, on a Sunday afternoon when the house is quiet, or early on a Saturday morning while everyone else is still sleeping.

2) Take your writing with you.

I wrote about packing a bag last year, and I still do this. I pack a bag of current projects, usually editing or brainstorming ideas that I find easier to do when I’m a bit distracted. I also have a journal in my purse so I can write down ideas as I have them.

3) Create a list of tiny tasks that you can do for your project.

I wrote a little about this last year too, but since it’s something I do every year, I think it’s worth mentioning again. When I know my life is going to be busy, but I don’t want to abandon a current project for a month or two, I make a list of small tasks I can do for the book in 10-15 minutes time. They are tasks like: draw a picture of the town, write a description of the restaurant, brainstorming possible scenes for character A and character B. I usually write them on index cards and I can work on one at a time. They are manageable and I still feel like I’m making progress.

TODAY my schedule is turning busy. TODAY is the day that I will be fitting my writing into the nooks and crannies of my life. I will be drained physically and emotionally during the next month. I know this because I’ve done it 15 times before today. But I know that I can make it work. There will be days I don’t get writing done. I will not be able to have a rough draft of my novel done by September 30, but that’s okay. I’ll still be writing.

How do you prep your writing life for busy times?