How To Find Time To Do Other Things Besides Write

A nice, reasonable lady at work asked me how I find time to write. After all, I am a full time English teacher and a mother of two daughters. How can I possibly find the time to write?

I answered with a question: How do I find time to do other things besides write? She blinked at me and I blinked back. I can be a pretty poor conversationalist when I’m in the middle of writing a novel. And guess what, I’m always in the middle of writing a novel.

It was a good question, however. Finding time to write has never been my problem. It's finding time for the areas of life that I signed moral, social and legal contracts for like mothering, being a nice wife and functioning in society that pose the difficulty.

As most poor conversationalists will do, I came up with an answer to my own question a month later. The lovely work friend who is a great conversationalist has probably forgotten that she ever opened this can of worms, but here are five tricks I pull in order to find time to do other things besides write:

Trick #1: Find two for one deals.

Find a way to kill two or three or five birds with one stone. For example, I think about my problems while I clean my house. This avoids the time suck of therapy. By cleaning my own house I also avoid a cleaning lady which would cost money which I would then have to work to make, which would waste time.

Walk the dog and get your exercise while taking care of your pet. Call going to Costco together with your spouse a date night. This covers romance and groceries for the entire month.  Wear a pajama shirt that doubles as an actual shirt. That way, you can dress yourself for day and night with one garment.

Trick #2: Have two kids eight years apart.

If you have your kids eight years apart, the first kid will raise the second one for you and she’ll be nicer than you ever were with her anyway. Kids eight years apart don’t clog the airwaves with a bunch of crappy sibling rivalry. They like each other and would rather walk down to the 7-Eleven together than bother you when you’re getting things done. It’s been such a great idea for me that I’m thinking of getting a patent.

Trick #3: Limit your kids’ screen time.

This has been the best time saver in the world. I can’t say I thought of it on my own. When we moved our youngest to a Waldorf elementary school, they asked us to follow their rule of no screen time (television, ipad, etc.) during the week. At first I secretly thought I would let her break it when I needed to write. That would have been a mistake.

Kids who watch television and play video games are constantly bored and asking you to entertain them. You get peace and quiet during the fifteen minutes between commercials or when there is something good on or when the game is fun but besides that, screen drunk kids are high maintenance. They’re always telling you to look at what’s going on in the game or in the show. Also, electronics are loud and annoying. 

Right now my youngest is outside picking berries and putting them in a basket. She’s been at it for hours without needing any input from me. It’s awesome.

Trick #4: Find work you like that makes money.

Find work that makes enough money so that you don’t worry about money. Money worries take up too much time. Also, find work that is easy for you to like. Work that you hate makes you tired.

Whatever happens do not be a teacher. Stephen King says that being a teacher is like going around all day with battery cables attached to your brain and at the end of it you have no energy to write. This is true. However, if teaching is the only thing you like that makes enough money so that you don’t have to worry about money, then go ahead and be a teacher if you have to. Just find a nice school community that doesn’t kill your soul like a blood-sucking incubus of soul death. It’s hard to find time for anything when that’s going on.

 Trick #5: Find a crowd that doesn’t care too much about your appearance.

You can save hours of time by hanging out with people who find your messy hair and thrift store clothing a fascinating emblem of your creative inner world. Mall shopping and trips to the salon are much more time consuming than growing your hair out white and wearing flip flops for shoes. You’ll find it saves time in the long run to find people who think you’re cute in your pajama shirt than it is to change out of your pajama shirt every day.

                   Children can double as exercise equipment, saving the busy writer both time and money. Also, that was the shirt I wore to bed.

When I was at Squaw Valley Community of Writers some years ago, author Janet Fitch said to us,  “Life supports art. Art isn’t meant to support life.” I never forgot her piece of wisdom and it has remained the most liberating tidbit in all of my writing education.

Of course I have time to write. It's changing my shirt that I have to find time for.