Kim, it's nice to know someone else lets the household things slide...down a well in my case...in order to write.

I make writing the first thing I do when the opportunity presents itself. I don't go to the gym first, or answer email, or make a cup of tea, or check what's on TV, or pick up my knitting, or make a call. I write. I grab those minutes and use them for all they're worth.

I also have an online buddy I do writing challenges with. We both have Yahoo IM and will sign on a do a 20 minute challenge. She sets the timer, and we write without stopping for 20 minutes. I can do 2-3 pages in that time frame (gotta love dialogue, LOL). Yes, the work will require revision, but it gets me thinking and keeps the creative juices flowing, and it doesn't take hours and hours to meet a page goal.

ETA: a challenge also helps structure my time. I can plan what I'm going to write in the car, working, etc, then actually write it when I have my 20 min challenge or whatever.

I have 10 month old twin girls who firmly believe they cannot nap at the same time...as anyone on earth. Someone is generally always awake. And they think my computer is a Whack-a-mole game. That takes the word "priority" out of any schedule.

But I'm finding ways around them. I write longhand if I can keep the pen/pencil out of their grasp. I give them baby snacks and write one word every other bite. It's slooooooow progress, but it's getting better.

Now, I'm going to admit, it's frustrating. And I lose whole ideas or lines because they interrupt, but it's progress! Much better than nothing at all. :)

Dee

Hi Kim, welcome to Cigars! Your post really resonated with me since I also have kids, a day job, and a host of other responsibilities, but have tried to make writing one of my first priorities. I also have laundry piled up on the windowseat and dishes stacked in the sink. When I get home from work, my time belongs to my family until the dinner dishes are cleared away, and the kids are settled down with their homework. I find the biggest distraction to my writing is email; I have this compulsive urge to check it every five minutes, and then respond to it.

Honestly, I look at you guys and think I should be flogged, LOL.

Thinking back to Megan's "Get to Work" post a few days ago, you have me wondering if you aren't fortunate to have all of those external pressures, ie, the old saying "the more you have to do, the more you get done." Your time, while you are letting laundry go or whatever, is still very structured, and I think that helps more than hurts and it's great that you can set boundaries to protect your time.

The most challenging thing I have found is, as a full-time writer, how to structure my day... and with all this time you'd think I'd be popping out books like puppies, but it doesn't quite work that way, which is what I caution folks who think about quitting dayjobs to write full time -- the truth is, you probably wouldn't write full-time, even if you had that time available...

When I was commuting, teaching, finishing my thesis, and still working on having a life, I wrote my first and second books in between the cracks, in the evenings and on breaks, and it was so much fun, relief from everything else. :) I don't have small children around and I don't work outside of writing (which I did, and I was happier for it, until I was laid off), and I find that sometimes, (and this is where you may want to flog me, but the grass is always greener...), I am not nearly as productive as I should be, given for the most part, 7 days a week to write. And sometimes the writing isn't as much fun as it was when I was doing it among other things.

I think you gain something from the external pressures, the stimulation of work and other things to do, and you probably have more focus when you do sit down -- when you have seven hours a day in front of you just to write... sometimes the writing doesn't happen, or you end up working on too many disparate things and progress is still "small." I do the housekeeping, the shopping, the budgeting, and take care of all that stuff, which I consider my "work" to some extent, but I don't focus 7 hours a day on writing, and yet I feel I should -- then again, John Grisham said he figures you write one page a day and in a year that adds up to a book -- and one page a day, even with research/editing/promo, does not require 7 hours a day. Multiply that by 2 books a year, and it still doesn't take 7 hours a day. So it's learning how to be happy with this, but there's always this nagging feeling of maybe should be doing more...

What it comes down to is that even with free time, weirdly, writing STILL has to be made a priority, and it's wild how it's somehow more tempting to avoid it when you feel like you have all day to get to it... There's something about having too much time that can be defeating as well. Or maybe I am just losing my mind. It also has to do with what we think is "worthy" -- for instance, running and participating on this blog is considered part of my work (to me) - and yet it feels like play. I'd think to myself, "okay now I have to get to work" -- but this IS part of my work... Egad.

If Megan stops by, I'm reflecting back on her post -- she has 9-4, 4 days a week, and yet she was talking about feeling that same sort of drifting feeling of not getting enough done that I have experienced -- I wonder what's up with this? (Also, I think I didn't quite "get it" when I was responding to her posts, but now I think your post has clarified the issue... it's about feeling as if we should be doing more, given how much time we have...)

Sam

Great to have you here!

I’ve just declared that my needs are as important as anyone else’s and I need to write.

I was finally able to write an entire book when I came to believe your wise words myself. And I also agree with Sam--the more you have to do, the more you get done. I teach and have summers off. Do I accomplish more in the summers writing-wise? I should, but I honestly don't think I do. I need the discipline of a schedule.

When people ask me how I find time to write, I tell them it's easy--I don't do housework. Any more. I'm lucky to be married to a guy who took over the cooking and cleaning so that I can write. But....on the other hand, I did the cooking and cleaning for over twenty years, plus got up at 4:00 (a.m.!) to make his lunch every morning.

Great topic, Kim!

Kim - I sorta feel like I'm stalking you lately! So sorry.

I'm going to duck now as I align myself with Sam, Jeanie and Megan's posts. I have arranged to give myself large chunks of time to write. But they're so big, I think to myself "I've got plenty of time left today, I'll just check eHarlequin.com and see what's up there" or "One more game of 40 thieves and I'll get to work". And then the kids are getting home from school and I'm suddenly feeling unworthy; kinda like that guy from the DaVinci code who whacks himself silly with the whip.

Last spring, when I was having this same problem, I found if I got out of the house and went to write at the library, that worked pretty well. Don't know why I didn't remember it until now! Of course, it's so blessed cold here right now all I can think of is huddling under my electric blanket with my fuzzy socks. So I'm trying to apply your advice from yesterday, "Fake it til you make it."

-Tasha

Go, all of you! I'm so not a writer, but as a mom, I can understand what it's like to try to make everything fit into the 24 hours we have each day! It's tough!

Thanks to all you writers who keep on plugging so I have wonderful things to read in the "cracks" in my day :)

Time disappears with the socks in the dryer...I can't tell you where, exactly, it goes, but believe me, it does. It's my personal nemesis! And just today I was complaining about not having the time to finish my MS...something about the job, kids, hubby, house, family, etc, etc, etc getting in the way.

I know writing has to be a priority, and I struggle to take it as high up the ladder as it needs to be, but I need to know that I'm doing right by my family, too. My boys will only be this age, doing this activity, in this play or project this one time. Yes, I know there will be other activities and projects, but I have to know that they are getting the best of me at least most of the time.

To be honest, I do write SOME everyday, but sometimes it's only a few hundred words, or it's editing and rewrites from my CP that leave me with fewer words than when I started;-)
I write in meetings, workshops, when my students are writing...I jot notes across my steering wheel when I'm driving or on scraps of paper when an idea hits me. I can't tell you how many nights I've climbed out of bed to scribble a note so I won't forget the idea before morning. And of course, I use my lunch break... It's a long process, but I'm getting there.

Last summer, I sent my older child to summer day camp and my baby (9 months, and never been away from mommy) to the sitter for a week. I got a lot done, but the guilt was tough to swallow. I plan to do the same thing again this summer, but only for one week. They don't stay little long, and I can write when they go to college!