Weaving writing into a full life

I got some decent writing done on my lunch hour today. As I was busy obsessing over my word count and telling myself that what I'd done wasn't enough, I realized the important thing about that moment wasn't the number on the screen* but the fact that I was writing on my lunch hour at all.

When I first started writing seriously, I was psyched when I cranked out a not-so-whopping** 200 words a day. I was having trouble finding time to write, therefore any writing at all felt like an accomplishment. I remember feeling truly frustrated--searching my calendar for free evenings, making lists and hourly schedules, talking with my husband about how to work it into my already full life. Finding the time to write enough words to fill a book seemed like an insurmountable task.

Here's what I was missing:

Stolen moments. I had all kinds of time in my schedule that I wasn't capitalizing on. A twenty minute bus ride to work each way (even longer with traffic - who knew I'd ever wish for traffic??). A lunch half-hour at minimum but an hour most days. Ten minutes in my car when I'm waiting for the bus. Fifteen minutes (ugh, or longer!) in a doctor's office waiting room. Fifteen minutes while dinner's cooking. And so on.

I'd been so focused on trying to find big blocks of time to write in (because, yanno, I thought that's How It Was Done) that I wasn't seeing all the small bits--which I call stolen moments both because we so often allow them to be stolen from us and because I felt like I was stealing time from my already full days--that added up to the equivalent of that big block of time.

Regular enough practice to make effective use of the time I did have. This is key. When I was first desperate enough to reclaim some of my stolen moments for writing, I didn't do a whole heckuva lot with them. But the point was, I was trying. After a couple weeks of persistent attempts to achieve something worthwhile in 5-20 minute chunks, I began to see a big difference. I was writing everyday, throughout the day, which meant my head was in the story all the time. It became easier and easier to open the laptop in a five minute break and type out a few paragraphs that weren't immediately deleted the next chance I had to re-read my work.

My point here is that it's daunting enough to think about writing a novel. When I got started, the idea of writing a novel while working a full time job, nurturing a marriage, taking care of a dog, meeting family and social obligations, continuing to read and, oh yeah, grocery shop every now and then...seemed nearly impossible. But it's not. In fact, it's possible to get started*** with only a small change to the way you manage your daily activities.


*Okay, let's be honest. It kinda was. ;)
**I classify 200 words as not-so-whopping for me because I know what type of daily word count I'm capable of now. Your mileage may vary.
***I say 'get started' because it's likely stolen moments will not be enough to sustain you for an entire writing career. At some point, you will probably need to get a little choosier about social commitments, how much TV you watch, how many hobbies you have or whatever if you really want to master the craft quickly.