The correct answer is "yes."
I know time is always a problem when you're working a day job, raising a family, trying to stay healthy and trying to write. But 30 minutes is manageable. Don't think you have 30 minutes? Maybe you need to perform an inventory on your time. Do it for a week. Kinda like you'd do if you were monitoring your spending.
You should see patterns in your weekly schedule - some maybe you can manipulate. Do you spend an hour a day commuting by bus or subway? Forget about catching a few extra Zs. Write. Use note cards, a small notepad and pen. Dollar stores have all these supplies now for you to stock up on. Wanna geek out? Use your smartphone to write.
The other day I was furious about something. The writer in me realized I could capture the raw emotion of anger if I jotted down my feelings. No pen. No paper. I was walking. So I pulled out my Blackberry and using the MemoPad I tapped out some strongly-worded emotional dialogue.
It took me 5 minutes. Tops. This is another example of using extra time for writing. I think I was arriving home from work when I pulled out my phone. By the time I unlocked the front door to my house and walked in, I had tapped out the dialogue.
There are precious moments like this hidden throughout your day. Find them and write.
Now do you think you can find the time for your writing?
If so, check out the WritersDigest.com blog post, "25 Ways to Improve Your Writing in 30 Minutes a Day."
Lots of good stuff here from five masters of the craft. I'm personally bookmarking it and referring back to it often.
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Great hints for using lost time to write. Thanks for reminding us that it only takes a few minutes to jot down our thoughts...and we'd better write them down, because if we don't, they may disappear back into the universe from whence they came. :) I keep a notepad and pen next to my bed...great ideas seem to come to me as I wake up, but if I don't write them down, I often forget them...perhaps they weren't as great as I thought they were. :)
ReplyDeleteI always have this nagging feeling when I don't jot something down. "Could that have been my next writing gem?" When I don't write them down, I'll never know.
ReplyDeleteI also believe it's good to write down the bad stuff. Like turning on the faucet for hot water. It may take a few seconds to run the water for the cold to turn to hot. Same with writing. Get all the cold out of the way so my writing can heat up!
Thx for the comments.