Finding time to write is the biggest issue I have struggled with since the moment I decided to start writing. In my experience, it has posed such a problem because I have never actively done anything to solve it. I would write a few thousand words then stop for days or weeks, losing thoughts and time I could have dedicated to my passion. With this public forum I feel as though I have been given a second beginning in a strange way, this time I get to begin again in the eyes of the people around me, and this time I can start it constructively to help insure my success in the future.

I would like to clarify, though time management is a factor in what I am discussing today it is an aspect of a bigger issue I intend on tackling, Work Ethic. So Let me lay it out for you!

Work is the biggest task I have to accommodate. Up until recently, I have only worked part-time on the evenings giving me a perfect opportunity every morning to spend time writing, but like I mentioned before there was a lot of time waisted in those mornings. In all honesty, I committed the cardinal sin of any writer, I talked about writing more that practicing it, I know, unforgivable. I spent a week or two talking about it then gave myself and my proposed practice about one or two decent writing sessions, then I would repeat indefinitely. Things changed though, like they do, and now I live in a new place that costs more money and I have two more mouths to feed, their names are Feyd and Tillian they are short-hairs and I love them, because of my new position in life I needed to work more and become more available for scheduling. 

It has been difficult. Now I open regularly which just means ‘I get up at 4 am now.’ And the time I have to dedicate to writing is in the evening now, which I thought would be easier than I actually is. On a good day, when I get home I feel like I have about fifteen minutes before my legs buckle and brain shuts off. I work in retail, which is not bad, I am paid very well for what I do and I am very thankful for the opportunity to work in my company, but being stuck under the bleach-white lights with no windows, walking the concrete floors for eight and half hours, being constantly surrounded by passersby, and bad music droning on in your ears is a difficult experience to follow-up productively.

I felt my passion being pushed aside again. Anytime I came home it was straight into a book, movie, video game, anything that would pacify my brain. I didn’t want to write because I didn’t feel comfortable with the time I was given or the state I was in after work. But I wasted my time when I had it easy, and I can comfortably admit I am angry with myself for my past decisions, I do not intend on harboring this nasty habit continuing any longer though, or wasting anymore of my time.

Goals. I am giving myself a goal. Eight hours a week to start with. Instead of just writing indeterminately I now have an end point. In the half of my day I spend outside of the store an hour and ten minutes will be spent writing a day, giving me consistency and forcing myself to expand the times in which I feel comfortable working. 

I need to engage my focus, it has to be able to be as flexible as my work schedule and quick enough to activate on my breaks at work if need be. 

Knowing myself, I am the most productive in the mornings most of my ideas are between breakfast and lunch, by the time I get home the ideas will have faded away so I need to be intentional with my thoughts at work and times I take a break. If I can outline a general path I should follow during the days writing session, then that should be enough to get the cogs turning again later in the day. 

Accessible, anything I can write on needs to be within a seconds grasp, laptops on the table open and sleeping, office doors open at all times for computer access, apps on my phone should be a click away for quick jots and reminders.

Be realistic, my partner calls me at seven o’clock on most nights, I love it when she calls me but it is not a very productive time. She deserves my full attention when she is with me so I need to plan for that and work with it.

With all of this planning I will build a healthy work ethic that will help utilize my natural productive thought time as well as help foster activating my focus when I need it for writing later in the day. I have set myself a quota for the week which gives me an attainable goal every day, creating a sustainable practice that can easily be corrected if something such as timing for the day/week needs to be updated.

This is what I want to do and excel at, starting here I hope to build a habit that will avoid my past mistakes. I am implementing this plan this week! I bought a whiteboard to keep in my bedroom as a physical reminder to keep me motivated.

What have been some of your greatest writing struggles, and were you able to over come them?

(A little note here! I apologize for the two week silence. Definitely not a good habit to start developing. I start working on posts the Thursday of the week before they are going to be posted. I am still trying to find the right balance of effort and time needed to properly run this blog without it interfering with my actual writing. So I can only ask for your patience once again. Thank you. 🙂 )

Stay safe and happy!

Jachin