Writing Time: How Much Do You Need (Or Want)?

By Alina Chase

If only we had a few more hours per day, or one interrupted day per week, or a 6 month sabbatical in Hawaii (or Ireland or Thailand) then we would finally accomplish our writing goals…

 

Maybe.

 

Writing goals too often focus on finding more time to write, revise, research and market without questioning why or if we need more time. We won’t write more without doing less of something else. And there are many ‘something else’s’ to consider. So before deciding what you can spend less time doing and which time-killers you can live without, it’s worth thinking through how much time you really want to reclaim for writing.

 

How much time is enough?

 

As much as possible? 

 

No!

 

Think about it. If you could quit your job or drop all your classes; if you could hire a housekeeper, a nanny and a cook; if you could write 16 hours a day, 365 days a year, would you do it? Of course not. How many more things would you love to do more of if you had more time? And how might new adventures enrich your writing?

 

You may only need to find an extra 10 minutes per day, 3 hours per week or 1 Saturday per month to accomplish major writing goals. But nixing as many unproductive habits, hobbies and silly to-do’s as you can this year is still worthwhile. Life experiences, good or bad, are all just material for writers.

So as you create more time for writing, create a bit more for experiencing more to write about.