Finding the Best Writing Time for You

Finding the best writing time for you is really as unique as you are.

I find that when I don't schedule my writing time, that my writing time often escapes me. I am rarely able to give the morning hours from 9 -12 the focus needed because I am getting up to re-fill a sippy cup, change the television channel, or put together a puzzle with my 3 year old granddaughter.



Photo by: Trinity, courtesy of Flickr

I wonder how much of my writing time is actually counting for something. I get in the realm of writing and then I'm stopped and have to start again. But it's just not the starting, it's getting back into that realm that's the real trick.

Reflecting on this, I know that my time might be better spent if I got up earlier in the morning or stayed up later at night to work on writing, but the truth of it is, I just don't want to get up that early or stay up that late.

I love my sleep and I'm not really a morning riser.

Finding the best writing time for you may take some work. You may find that you can write with children in the background but that certain creative phases need complete silence. My most in depth creative phase is the first draft after I've done a little outlining. I'm getting the words down and sometimes they come faster than I can type them. An interruption at this time might be deadly.

Have you every thought, "Well, I'll just go do this one thing, and get back to it in a moment?" Only when you come back you've forgotten what you were going to write? For this reason, my deepest thinking moments are usually spent when I can be as alone as possible. And that means someone else is watching the children and I'm not answering the phone or door. I've heard of some writers letting others know when their writing time is so that they're not disturbed. That means, others outside their home know when not to call and when not to drop by.

I have yet to incorporate this wise wisdom, but if we, as writers, don't take our writing seriously, who will?

Finding the best writing time for you may include learning how to write with noise in the background, interruptions, and children hanging on your legs, knowing that the day will come when your children will be grown up and you'll have other things to worry about. You may decide to write late at night or early in the morning or at nap time.

But if your goal is to be published or to get your first novel completed before Christmas, you'll find the time.