As a writing mentor, I’ve heard plenty of clients say they “just can’t find time” to fulfill their creative dreams and write a book or even finish a short story. In the real world, aspiring writers might need to work a forty hour week to pay the bills, or fill their day caring for their family. That doesn’t leave a lot of time or energy to invest in what really lights them up.
If this sounds like you, and you’re wondering how you can carve out time for your own dreams when everyone else wants a piece of you, grab a coffee and watch this 5 minute video from the fabulously inspiring and vivacious Marie Forleo, on how to prioritize what’s really important to you:
Do you have a favorite way to prioritize your dreams and ambitions? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below:
Thanks, Louise for posting this reminder of time management. Oh so important. Sometimes I find that maintaining the non-urgent, mundane tasks stop things from escalating to urgent. I agree with prioritorising, but perhaps sending the urgent things away while I work on the important things is best avoided by keeping up so they don’t become urgent in the first place. Finding time to do what’s fun to me is about setting time aside, no matter what. How much time to set aside is often dictated by external factors but not always.
Wow, you’re so sensible, Jill. It would be fab if everyone could prioritise that way. So many get lost in unimportant tasks, then have no time for writing. Great to hear how everyone works!
I found time to finish my novel while raising a two year old by giving her pen and paper and asking her to write her own stories while I wrote. Her work is still all scribbles but I now get “Quiet Mummy, I am trying to do my story writing” heh heh!!
I love that Pamela! I’ll pass that story on. What a great way for young mums to buy some time for themselves. Gold!
I did two things that have changed my writing life. Not just because I get to the writing more, but because I kept getting rejections and felt like I could never win.
I vowed to write every day, even if it’s just a new sentence. Second, I bought myself a “writing only” calendar and put a line through each day I wrote. That was last year. Every square (that is, every day) has a line through it. Yay!
This year, I’ve gone further with my calendar. I write in the number of hours of writing for each day. Five hours gets a red heart sticker. I love shiny stickers. The joy when I feel like I’m getting somewhere, and yet my novels are still getting rejections. But I’m doing what I can.
How awesome, Karen. I’m a calendar lover too. I’ve got a one page A4 ‘year to a page’ calendar with a little slot for each day where I write my word count. If I don’t write figures, I need to write one word (that’s all that will fit) to explain myself. “Editing” is okay. “Travel” is also fine, because I figure I’m getting input instead of producing output. “Blah” is not okay! But is thankfully out of my life. I’m so glad you’re writing and submitting. That eventually leads to acceptance and publication. Just gotta hang in there!