Writing that Novel with a job and a family

It’s 5:30 in the morning. Your alarm goes off. You roll out of bed and start to get ready for the day. You wake the kids up and get them ready. Your husband gets up and prepares as well.

6:30 and you’re out the door. Driving the youngest to daycare, making sure the oldest catches the bus, dropping the husband off to work and rushing there yourself.

3:30 rolls around and it’s been a long work day. You pick up and kids and the husband. Take the oldest to Girl Scouts, stop at the store to buy the things you need for dinner, then finally head home.

5:30 and it’s time to start dinner. Cook up a meal and help the kids with their homework. Eat some dinner, give the kids their baths and it’s off to bed.

8:30 and you finally get to sit down. Hour and a half before bed. Dishes need done, that show you love is on, and your novel is just waiting to be written…

So what now? If you’re anything like me, this is a daily struggle. When do you find time to write with a family and a full-time job? I’ve been trying to make up a schedule in order to get writing time in daily. Setting a scheduled time to write is essential, but not always possible.

Sometimes if you can’t assign a time each day to write you can find it more productive to set a word count. For example, some people say they write 5,000 words a day. They are able to get this done by writing during their break at work, or for half hour at night before bed, or waking up twenty minutes early in the morning before the rest of the house is awake. I used to have a tape recorder in my car, that I got from college to record lectures, that I would speak into while I drove and then type it up on days when I had a little extra time. Setting a word count means you don’t have to assure you are by your computer at 7pm every night until 8pm. It also means you have something to show for your daily work, instead of just having an hour when you may write 300 words because you are also checking Facebook or e-mails.

Find what works best for you, but know… there are people out there who are struggling along with you.