Finding Time to Write

I started publishing books because I love to write. I have always considered myself a writer.  Writing short stories in English class was one of my favorite assignments – well, besides math, that is.  I also love math…

I am very pleased with the catalogue that my little publishing company has amassed to date and I can easily see myself working away at writing and publishing for a long time to come.

BUT….I find that I am doing much less writing now than I did when I first started out.  Now that I have a business to run and to continue building, I am doing editing, proofreading, getting covers made, choosing artwork, formatting, marketing, publishing….so many demands on the finite amount of time I have.

Then, there is the regular life and family stuff that has to get done.  Things such as groceries, laundry, dishes, cooking, baking, cleaning, shopping, and driving kids around.  Plus, the whole reason why I want to make a living working from home and writing is so that I can spend time with my husband, two kids, and our new puppy.

But, somewhere in there, I seem to have missed out on writing my next book.

Is anyone else in the same boat?

I have had stages of this dilemma a few times over the past couple of years since I started writing and publishing and the best way I have found is to start small and schedule.

I use Outlook to keep track of my appointments, my family’s appointments, and deadlines of things I need/want to get done. When I find that my writing has fallen to the back burner, I take the next book that I really want to complete and make a list of each thing that needs to be done.  Then, I take one small item that I can do that day (or the next day) and put it in my Outlook calendar for a particular time.  Then, once I do it, and get to delete it from my calendar, I have a great sense of accomplishment for having finally started my next book!

The next day, I do one more thing and so on, until I am back in the swing of writing.

If I haven’t started my next book yet, I set aside some time to do an outline, which is my initial version of the Table of Contents.  I actually start a Word file with all of my chapter headings and subheadings.  Then, I apply heading 1 and heading 2 styles to them and I actually create a Table of Contents.  Then, I feel like my book is started and I try to tackle one section a day until I am finished.  Often, as I get into the book, I will complete much more than one section a day.

It’s that small, achievable goal each day that gets me back on track.

How do you get back on track when you’ve fallen into a “writing rut”?  I’d love to hear about it.

Barb