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Writing and the Myth of Time
By Jessica Broughton of Grrlwriter
One of the most common excuses I hear for not writing (or, for that matter, not doing anything else) is a lack of time and lack of space to participate in and manage your creative life. Writing is no exception. Today I am faced with an inordinate amount of time to work on whatever I’d like to writing-wise. I find myself getting right up to the starting line but having a little trepidation about crossing over it. In addition to working full-time and writing, I’m also completing my bachelor’s degree (I graduate in May) and it’s a bit intimidating to think that finally I’ll have all this time to dedicate to writing. So I pull up a word document, and feel like my mind has gone as blank as the page. Writing, for me, works when I don’t make it such a big deal, when I know that I have a schedule and deadlines and I can’t allow myself to do anything but sit down at the page and go. Because writing is such an integral part of my daily life, this part shouldn’t be this hard, right? Many writers think that if they had this mythical giant swath of time and didn’t have to worry about their bills they would take that year and focus on their writing. They would be able to write undisturbed, finish with a literary masterpiece, and then everything would be coming up roses from there on out. But I think many of us would take that time and use it as an excuse to do anything but write. We would always find another place to go visit, another book to read, another game of solitaire to play or another hour to waste on Facebook. I can freely admit that when I am just not quite in the mood to write even doing the dishes starts to look appealing. For every person who would take a year sabbatical and actually write there are 99 behind them who would do everything but. The truth is that we are required to carve out time for this craft of writing. The idea that “someday” we’ll have this giant block of free time to write will probably never happen. Work, family, fun, something will always come up that will look more intriguing than sitting down to a blank page. But by creating some time in the life you already have you’re honoring yourself by taking time, even if it’s just a little, to do what you love. Even when I’m avoiding it I can say that once I get going I’m a happy camper, and the days where I find time to write are infinitely better than the days when I didn’t make the time to write a word. I managed to find time to write in between 3 classes this semester and a day job, and every day that I did meant that my mind was clearer and more receptive to all the other work that I had to do. It might only be a sentence here or a sentence there, or a coveted ten minutes when I can just sit down and pour out my thoughts, but it’s something. In fact, writing this has written me out of my own little rut and now I’m ready to go tackle a little bit of fiction. Happy writing!
Jessica's professional experience has run the gamut from being an owner of a technology company to working in animation on the Emmy award winning television show "Sid the Science Kid" and the critically-acclaimed feature film "9." When she's not writing she's dancing and when she's not dancing she's writing.
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If you live here, you probably DO have all the time in the world to write - this article is for the rest of us.
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 |  | biblefreeorg loved this intel. Mar 16, 2011 |  | | Marika liked this intel. Mar 16, 2011 |  | | nick agreed with this intel. Mar 16, 2011 |  | | jannepaige liked this intel. Mar 17, 2011 |  | | adac agreed with this intel. Mar 17, 2011 |  | | frederick recommended this intel. Mar 19, 2011 |  | | amawells liked this intel. Mar 31, 2011 |
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The problem with making time for writing is that it's usually a risky investment. If you spend a year writing a novel, you know you're going to have to spend at least another seven years shopping it around, and the likelihood of it getting published is, statistically, minimal. As such it's a little hard to justify putting that much time into the project, unless one is young and driven by dreams rather than pragmatic decision-making.
 | | nick Mar 16, 2011 17:46 |  appreciated |
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
Nick, I completely agree. It's a statistical craps shoot, and as we get older it doesn't look like a desirable option anymore. You certainly aren't going to get rich and you might not even make a decent living. An author I interviewed said that once you accept the fact that you love it - and that you're absolutely crazy - it makes things a bit easier. And it does :) But I have to say that some of the best decisions I've ever made have had nothing to do with practicality. I wouldn't have randomly applied to an internship on a whim, which led me to a whole new life in California :) I just say that no matter what I can't say I didn't try. That's personally my biggest fear - that I'll look back on something someday and wonder "what if."
I find that the tighter my schedule, the better my planning is. A little more stressful but I get more done. Having too much "Time" breeds laziness. "I can get to that tomorrow" Knowing tomorrows already full means I need to get it done today.
 | | adac Mar 17, 2011 08:19 | |
The copyright for this content entitled "Writing and the Myth of Time" has been specified by the contributor as:
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