Time to write by Terry Burns

When I get out of school I'll have time to write.

When I get settled in this job I'll have spare time to write.

When the kids get older . . .

When the kids don't have all these extracurricular activities . . .

When the kids leave home . . .

When I retire . . .

When . . .when . . . when

We have to face it, there is no such thing as time to write. Why? Because life expands to fill the time available. There will always be something competing for our available time.

Writing time has to be carved out and jealously protected. Ideally, loved ones understand what we are trying to do and help us in this process. My wife, my kids, my parents, the people in my life played a big role in what I have been able to write over the years. When I went into the study and closed the door they knew what that meant.

These days I don't get to write much, not what I would like to write, and I miss it. Pretty much all of my available time is dedicated to working for my clients. I made that conscious decision some time ago, that I could serve the Lord better by helping get a number of Christian books out than I could by doing one or two myself. I haven't regretted that decision.

But I still miss it. Maybe I haven't been taking my own advice. I'm going to carve out some time and do a little writing again.

How about you? Are you one of those forever complaining that you can't find the time to write? One of those waiting for some point in your life when you feel like the time will suddenly appear? Or are you carving it out, setting it aside and jealously protecting it.

Writing time simply does not exist . . . it has to be made.

Pressing On by Andy Scheer

I'm writing this Friday evening after a long, busy week at my 8 to 5 job.

Now isn't my first choice for a writing time, but it's what I have. If I'm going to make any headway on my other projects, I have only weekends and evenings. No wonder work on the side has been called moonlighting.

Tomorrow I need to complete a big article that's coming due. So my little projects need my attention now. It's nearly time for supper, but I have a few low-blood-sugar moments available.

I'm surprised how much I could accomplish in the thirty minutes I squeezed into my day. And I'm thankful for the notes I jotted to myself yesterday when inspiration struck. With those fragments from a fresh moment, I'd equipped myself for this evening's slogging.

I hope you've been able recently to press ahead with your own work-in-progress -- especially when you've felt more pressed than inspired.

Should I Quit Writing? by Terry Burns

She caught me off guard with that question. She sat down for an appointment and instead of pitching her projects she launched into how her kids were interrupting her writing time, how church and work and just life in general left her no time to write. She listed obstruction after obstruction and said when she did find time to write that it wouldn’t come, that she was getting nowhere with it. Then she hit me with that question.

I didn’t hesitate a heartbeat but just said “yes.”

She was probably expecting a pep talk or at least for me to commiserate with her. I didn’t. I said, “I think anyone who can quit writing should do so. All of the writers I know CAN’T quit. They have words inside them that have to come out. The serious writer simply has to do it.”

Writing is not easy. There is never time to do it, and there is a huge amount of frustration and difficulty involved. Why would anyone put themselves through it if they didn’t have to? Oh, I know there are those who say “When the kids leave I’ll have time to write.” Or when I retire, or if I come into money, or any other factor in their life that will create this big block of time where they can easily write.

Never happens. Life expands to fill the amount of time available. There is always something to take up the time. The serious writer has to carve out writing time and jealously protect it. Maybe there are people who can dabble at it, a fun little diversion that they do here and there, and they don’t stress over it or worry about it not producing the results they want to have. That’s someone who writes as a hobby, and that’s okay. It makes a nice little hobby if they don’t care about getting a lot of books out and can settle for hobby results, a few books to family and friends, maybe a few outsiders.

But if they have to start trying to write better, to reach more people, to get serious about it. Then it won’t let them be, and it can be a hard taskmaster. Sure, if you can quit, do so, and spend your time on something easier that provides quicker gratification.

She left stone-faced, shaken. I saw her the next day and she said, “I took your advice and felt an immediate peace come over me that I could let it go. But it kept coming back nagging at me. Finally I realized that I really can’t quit.”

I smiled at her. “Then quit making excuses and feeling sorry for yourself. You don’t have any more things fighting to steal your time than anyone else. All writers face it, even the ones that seem to be writing full time and that is all they do. Don’t believe it. They are warding off constant things that want to steal their time. They just have to be disciplined and protect that time no matter what.”

She nodded and said she understood. “Everyone else has been feeling sorry for me and telling me things will get better. You’re the first one that has ever slapped me in the face and told me I should quit or get on with it.”

Really? Maybe there are others who need a wake up call on protecting their writing time. Why did I know what to say so easy? Because being an agent has stolen almost all of my writing time. Oh, the job had some help from family, church and life in general, but I made a conscious decision that helping other writers was more important than my own writing and now I get to do precious little of it. I was talking to myself as much as I was talking to her.