15 minutes a day

One question I get a lot in emails is (to paraphrase), "I want to write, but I can't find the time. I'll have three hours one Saturday and then no time for another few months. How do you make the time?"

This question most often comes from parents, and man, I totally comprehend the craziness of trying to find some quiet and space in a house of small children. But parents or not, I think my answer really will work for most anyone: Give yourself 15 minutes a day. If you write every day, the story and words will be fresh in your head, and the lucky moments when you do have a larger chunk of time will be much more productive. Also, by setting aside those minutes every day, you're taking a huge step. You're saying, I'm a writer. I write every day. I take this seriously. I am going to allow myself to do this!

Those 15 minutes can be whenever you want. Rise early before the kids do, grab that time right before you go to bed. Make it the same time every day, or if you need to vary, don't allow yourself to go to sleep until you've put in the 15. Okay, it would take years to finish several drafts of a novel only using 15 minutes a day, but the magic of this commitment is, once you make the sacrifice and put in that time, more time will start popping up. You'll find another 20 minutes another time of day and you'll have a fresh scene just waiting in your fingers to write down. The kids will sleep in one day and you'll have an hour. You'll be focused and eager to keep telling your story in any spare moment because it'll always be bubbling in your brain. But you have to stick with it!  And your kids will be glad that you did.

And I'm off to lovely Minnesota tomorrow. Hope to see some of you there. My poor, poor Max. I love to get out on the road, but I just can't stand leaving him! Ouch.