Finding Time to Write
The people who bring you these FreelanceSwitch articles work in a wide range of fields, and we hail from all over the world. But we do have something in common, and that is that we’ve found ways to squeeze writing about the business side of creativity into our busy schedules.
Finding time to write seems to be the Holy Grail for many would-be scribes. Well, I’m here to tell you that we all have the same amount of time: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. And you might be pleasantly surprised to find that you’re already doing quite a bit of writing during your waking hours. For example:
- Are you sending or responding to e-mails? Text messages? Well, you’re writing.
- Have you been doing any business proposals? Design specs? Documentation for the software you just created? How about letters pitching your services to potential clients? There you go again – writing your way through the workday.
- Okay, admit it. You spend more than a little time on the social media circuit. You might be Twittering. Or posting to a blog or social networking site. Looks like you’re doing even more writing.
In short, finding time to write isn’t as important as giving yourself credit for the writing you’re already doing. It’s like finding time to exercise. If you’re like most people, the word “exercise” is about as much fun as words like “taxes” and “housecleaning.”
But if you, your spouse, and your children decide that it’s important to spend time together, and that you’re going to do so while taking a walk around the neighborhood, you’re going to achieve greater physical fitness without even thinking about it. And you’ll probably have such a good time that you’ll go walking, regardless of whether you’re at home or traveling.
Once you’ve recognized that you’re already quite a writer, it’s time to organize your work for later retrieval. I’m a big fan of copying and pasting snippets from e-mails, proposals, pitch letters, and social networking posts into text files that go into my writing ideas folder. From these text files, I build my Freelance Switch articles.
In addition to all of the writing you do during the workday, watch and listen to what goes on away from your computer. You’ll find plenty of material to write about.
For example, did a family member tell you something interesting during a phone conversation? My Aunt Jean is quite a storyteller, and I’ve been developing one of her Great Depression-era tales into a political commentary. Here’s a glimpse at this work-in-progress:
U.S. President Hoover’s 1932 re-election campaign was one of the toughest in American history. According to Wikipedia, the Republican incumbent “…was faced with perhaps the most hostile crowds any sitting president had ever faced. Besides having his train and motorcades pelted with eggs and rotten fruit, he was often heckled while speaking, and on several occasions, the Secret Service halted attempts to kill Hoover by disgruntled citizens, including capturing one man nearing Hoover carrying sticks of dynamite, and another already having removed several spikes from the rails in front of the President’s train.”
In Republican-rich Westchester County, which is just north of New York City, it was thought that the President would get a friendlier reception. The President stopped in the Pelham, NY neighborhood where my father and his brother and sister were raised.
My Aunt Jean was all of five years old, but she went next door to meet the huge man in the white suit. He spoke briefly, my aunt thought he was a bore, and then came the highlight of the gathering. The neighbors’ dog spotted Mr. Hoover, walked over to him, and lifted his leg against Hoover’s white-trousered leg.
Fortunately, the President had a change of clothing.
We all know how things turned out – Hoover lost the election and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt went on to serve three full terms and a few weeks of a fourth term before his death in 1945. I’m planning on including my family’s Herbert Hoover story in a larger political commentary on partisanship throughout American history.
And that’s another thing about writing. Once you’ve found that you’re already doing quite a bit of it, and you’ve figured out a way to harness and store your ideas, you’re going to be writing about a lot of different things. Right now, it’s Martha, the business side of creativity writer. Tomorrow, it could be Martha, the political commentator.
Where are you going with your writing?
I think it’s really important to have time where you can relax, time away from work, family, friends and media such as games + TV.
I like to listen to music and just chill out in the sun with a glass of cider or listen to the rain. It’s in these times however I can feel most creative, so I tend to sit with a pad of paper and a pen with no pressure, if I get some ideas I’ll scribble stuff down, if I don’t then I don’t.
Of course some writing is for my work so I put a lot of time in as an investment, but personal writing if you have a passion for it will always find time to flow.
I like to write just about everything, honestly. Being able to express myself in words is a lot of fun. Sometimes I write commentaries, sometimes I write poetry, and I spend a lot of time writing essays and technical documents as well.
I find it really easy to write when you integrate it as part of your day. When you know you need to write x articles a day, you can sort of plan your day ahead of time to accommodate. It’s simple once you get into a routine, and makes days much simpler
The thing that’s interesting about writing blog posts is that it seems the more you do it, the more ideas you get. Like many things, just starting to do it is often the biggest hurdle to cross.
For almost two months now I’ve been teaching myself how to find time to write. Before that, I wrote very little in the way of lengthy, well-planned articles. Maybe two or three times a week if that.
However, back in March I committed to building a web course that required me to write about a lesson a day for 90 days, each anywhere from 300 to 1300 words. At the beginning it was incredibly overwhelming. I didn’t know if I had it in me and I was especially afraid that it would kill all the joy I had previously gotten from writing.
But, here I am eight weeks into it and I haven’t missed a single posting. More than that, I’m now able to speed through the creation of high-quality posts and it hasn’t become any less enjoyable for me.
I have two pieces of advice for finding time to write:
1. Know what you’re going to write about in advance – At the beginning of each week I create a schedule of what’s going up Monday through Friday and what those posts will be about. This way when I sit down to write I don’t waste a half hour or more trying to figure out what I should say. I can just dive right in. And seeing what I’ll be writing about also enables me to have a good idea of how long it will take. It’s a lot easier to commit to writing when you know it won’t take more than 30 minutes or more than an hour.
2. Find some accountability – As I said, I’m writing daily for a web course I’m building. This web course currently has a small test group who have paid for the information I’m writing. If I don’t get that information out there, they’ll feel cheated. I have a responsibility to these people to write every day. Now, many people probably won’t be getting paid directly for what they are writing especially if they are intending to grow a blog. With my own blog, I’ve been able to mimic this kind of accountability by applying a strict schedule and making it public. I tell everyone to keep an eye out every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If I don’t deliver every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I lose credibility and they lose interest. There’s something at stake and the readership holds me responsible.
Anyway, really great post, Martha! I had never thought of the things I *have to* write (emails, etc) as good foundations for things I want to write. Copying from what I’ve already written and adding that snippet to an idea folder is really a brilliant way to kill two birds with one stone. I think I’ll try to put this in practice asap.
Great post. I’ve found that if I view blog or article writing less as actual writing and more as “an expansion of my ideas,” I’m more likely to sit down and write an outline and draft faster. It takes the pressure off and prevents me from over-thinking.
From there, it’s just editing and cleaning up, which is easier once you’re in the groove.
Sometimes the words come out easily, other times it’s a bit harder. Either way, I’m challenging myself to write (at least) one blog post per day for the month of May. Is it going to be challenging? You bet. But I think it’s a great exercise
Thanks for the words of inspiration… they’re really encouraging. I’ve found myself stranded in a timeless bunker where the only room for writing is this little comment box.
You’ve made a very good point, and I really appreciate it.
Cheers
Its really tough to find time to write when you are so much involved in your daily stuff…you try to measure everything into billable hours..if writing gives you money u certainly find time for it if it doesnt you feel that its tough to squeeze time
While I think it’s great to give yourself a pat on the back for all the writing you inadvertantly did during the day, there still has to be some distinction between writing and communication. Like the difference between a glass of water and an ice cold bottle of Sam Adams; each quench your thirst, but the Sam Adams opens up a new universe for your taste buds. I’m getting carried away here, but I think it’s important to consider yourself a writer when you really mean to write, so the intent is clear and you force yourself to live up to whatever your definition of writerly standards are, or at least aspire to them. But you can apply your writing style to the most mundane communications and elevate them to prose. So, I think setting a higher standard to everything you write means that you’re really writing rather than a noun-verb progression.
I like this idea!.. I did the same on keeping notes of quotes and humors. Hah, I remember how our national hero started to become one of the greatest novelist (author of Noli Me Tangere). He used to jot down any words he think of while he’s riding a train during his exile period…
Thanks for sharing Martha! Great read..
Thoughtful insights into what most count as writing. Where do you draw the line for edifying writing versus writing that isn’t very helpful as far as freelancing is concerned? The different roles needed for writing is a point that doesn’t seem to get made enough.
Writing, in my personal belief, is the greatest way to exercise the brain. It’s unfortunate, however, that the importance of creative writing is seemingly overlooked by public universities these days.
I love to write. When i was young i liked to write letters to my friends But now i send messages to them
Very interesting post. It’s very helpful. Thanks for sharing.