Taylor Bennett is a Jesus-loving, world-traveling lover of books, words, and stories. Receiving her first publishing contract at the age of seventeen, she seeks to inspire other young women to reach for their own God-given dreams and do the impossible through Him. Though she loves living and writing in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, Taylor believes that life is always better with a bit of the aloha spirit.
I’m so familiar with the sound of my phone’s annoyingly sing-song-y alarm that I sometimes find myself humming the not-so-sunny tune throughout the workday. For the past several months, I’ve been getting up at four thirty (yes, that’s AM) just to get to “school” on time. My student teaching placement landed me with an unexpected commute, which led to the early wake-up call, which led to the fact that I’ve been busy.
(So busy, in fact, that it took me almost two weeks to respond when Steph asked me if I’d like to write this post in the first place. Oops.)
But somehow, beside all of that, I’ve also been able to finish writing not one book but two during my student teaching placement…along with half a million lesson plans and essays for college. My days are long and my hair is half-pulled out from dealing with a roomful of first graders for six hours a day, but somehow I’ve done it—I’ve met my deadlines and written the words that were on my heart.
If you’re like me, then you’re busy too. Really busy. But, if you’re like me, you also have so many stories stirring in your heart that you can’t just up and quit writing…even though you’ve entered into a season in your life that stretches your time thinner than you’d thought possible.
So how can we do it? How can we manage to do all the things, write all the words, and stay sane (or at least sane-ish) when there are still only twenty-four piddly little hours in each never-long-enough day?
I hardly consider myself an expert considering I’ve been known to ditch work in favor of an extra-long nap on the weekends, but I’m here today to share with you some time-management tips that have made a huge difference in my own writing life. And maybe, just maybe, they’ll work for you too.
Tip #1: The Alarm is Your Fiend (er…I meant friend…)
No one likes to listen to an alarm blare, chime, or screech at them first thing in the morning, but that hardly matters when there are Important Words to Write. By setting your alarm an hour earlier than you really have to, you’re accounting for a quick morning writing session. Or an hour’s worth of hitting the “snooze” button. Your choice.
Seriously though, waking up early can sound painful, but I’ve had some amazingearly-morning writing sessions that have almost (I said ALMOST) convinced me to set my alarm even on the weekends.
On the flip side, enjoy that extra hour of sleep in the morning and stay up late for an evening writing session. Make it special with a freshly-brewed mug of tea, a flickering candle, and some inspirational music…just make sure you don’t stay up all night!
Tip #2: Prioritize
When I finally have time to write, it’s all too easy for me to end up anywhere but on the page. I scroll through Instagram, chatting with author friends, or delve into the bottomless-inspiration-pit of Pinterest, all the while thinking “I sure wish I had the time to write.”
If we were to really take a step back and examine our everyday routine, we’d find plenty of time that we couldspend writing…if we weren’t wasting our time! That’s not to say that we need to do Nothing But Write when the opportunity presents itself, but we should be mindful of how much time we’re spending on other activities. When we look back at that time we spent, will we be pleased with what we accomplished or peeved over the wasted opportunity for a writing session?
Tip #3: It’s NOT All or Nothing
While word sprints or writing-marathon days where we write 5k words in a few short hours are nothing short of amazing, they’re not the end-all for writing a book. A great novel can be written in a handful of marathon sessions or a million tiny spurts. Inspiration can manifest just as easily during a half-hour lunch break than it can during a designated writing retreat. Just because we’re busy, that doesn’t mean that our time doesn’t matter. Instead of waiting until “just the right moment” we can seize the few precious moments that we have and make them “right.” The next time inspiration strikes, seize the next handful of minutes you can afford, and put those words down on paper. It all adds up!
How do you find time to write? Do you feel like you’re making the most of it?
Other posts on Go Teen Writers on the topic of time management and working toward finishing your book:
9 Tips For Managing Your Writing TIme
Thank you for taking the time to write this post, Taylor! I’ve been struggling with time management lately, and writing is one thing that has been pushed aside quite a bit.
I often find time to write in the oddest of places. For instance, last week I was out-of-state at a four day debate competition and stumbled across a free hour. I picked up a pen and wrote a short story on some index cards. It’s not ideal, but it’s all about seizing opportunity, right?
I do think your tip about prioritizing your “free time” will be really helpful. It’s time to make a “What-to-do-when-you-don’t-have-anything-to-do List.”
I love the idea of you writing a short story on your index cards!
Thank you for the post, Taylor! I can definitely use the time management tips.
This was awesome timing for me, as I have been really busy lately and finding time to write is hard. These are great tips and I’m thinking of now setting my alarm an hour earlier, to either write, or do other things so I have time to write. Thanks for writing this post!
This is so helpful, Taylor! These tips are just what I needed. I especially need to work on getting up earlier to make time for writing, which is something I struggle with. Thank you so much for writing this!