When Your Time Changes

What happens when your life changes? Maybe you are a person who was dedicated to the writing process 8 hours a day, or 4 hours a day three times a week, or another scheduled amount of time.

So now, you have a new job, a new responsibility. Maybe you are going back to school, or have a new baby, new spouse or significant other, or something else that takes time you used to dedicate to your writing.

You love to write. Your fans love reading what you write. But now, you find that your product is not coming out as fast as either you or your fans wish to see it come out. What do you do?

Well, of course your new responsibilities or lifestyle changes are important to you or you would not have them, right? Expect to slow down on your writing, but tell your fans and friends that you will produce more writing, it will just take a bit longer.

I am actually in this predicament, currently. I had a whole summer to write my books and plugged out eight of them in 3 months. That was a whilrwind of books; each over 300 pages long. Now, however, I have to dedicate time to teaching my college students.

I also spend two days a week with my daughter, creating our business, sewing, and catching up. That is four days I used to spend writing that are now dedicated to my new lifestyle requirements.

Now the time that I used to spend writing has been converted to time teaching, communicating, faculty advising, and creating lesson plans and PowerPoint presentations for my three classes two days a week.

It is exciting to teach. I enjoy spending time with my daughter. I still love to write, and now I have to change my schedule so I still have time for that.

I would recommend a scheduling calendar, like a DayTimer, to keep your time set. Keep up with it, look at it every day, and follow it. Above all else, if you live with others, make sure they know you have blocked and dedicated time to your art, your skill, your talent, or your love of writing.

No matter what, if you write, you need to do it. If you put it totally away, your skills will atrophy and you'll need to start from scratch. Any muscle, even your writing muscles, need exercise.

Keep writing!