To be a writer to some seems very monotonous and to others it seems like a dream. To me it has always been the latter. However, it is really not an easy thing to BE. Yes, when the writing comes naturally then it is not a complicated task to write a complete novel of 200 pages. The not-so-easy part is the lack of TIME there is to write.
If it was up to me, I would write and edit all day. That is still the dream that I believe I can achieve one day, but until then, I have a day job that requires most of my time.
End of May 2023, I resigned from teaching at the last public school I was at since I was in hospital for a lung infection. While recovering at home I managed to complete my first book. I did not go back to teaching in 2023. After publishing my first book on 22 June 2023, I managed to finish and publish my second book on 22 August 2023. Two months later. WOW! What an achievement it was for me to publish two books in two months.
It is now May 2024, and I did not publish another book to date.
WHY????
The answer is TIME
Yes, I understand what it is like to not have time to write. I have been working on a book since last year, and this year I started on two more books. So, currently I am busy with three books. Still, I don’t get time to write as much as I did during May to August 2023. The reason for that was because when you start writing to publish, you might not make any money in the beginning. My publisher asked me to freelance edit for her publishing house, and since I started editing, I spent less time on my own books. It did not bother me much because she recognised my gift and allowed me into her space and at the same time, I was able to make money. It really helped me, as I was unemployed, while just running a small business making day-to-day money.
I continued writing my third book while editing. I managed to get my book half way and then in January 2024, I started teaching again. Then reality kicked in. My time became so limited, and I understood why some people only manage to publish one book per year or even one book every few years. Mind you, my goal for 2023 was to publish like ten books. HAHA. Due to reality hitting me hard against my head, my new goal is to publish three books this year – the three that I have already started on. More would be great, but we are already in May.
So, how do I manage to make time for writing now while I am so busy?
Currently, I have:
- My full-time teaching job, that involves me getting home anywhere between 16:30 to 18:00. I need to prepare lessons, type and mark tasks and tests. Some weekends I also need to prepare for the next week.
- A freelance editing job for Shofar Books which I love and would not want to exchange for the world. It involves me editing authors manuscripts within a certain time frame. Manuscripts can be between 50 to 500 pages.
- I have my own company, MJ Books, where I write and edit. This involves only writing books for clients and also editing or proofreading their manuscripts for them. MJ Books is also my own platform where I advertise my own writing.
- I have a side-hustle where I register people’s companies for them, I do graphic designing for people and businesses and other small business things. I do this less often now, only on a need-to-do basis since I started teaching again.
- Then I have a community group where I assist the community in things like helping them get Eskom or the municipality to fix their issues. This takes time on my phone too.
- Lastly, but most importantly, I have my family. My husband, who also works and somehow, we actually spend a lot of time together for people who are so busy.
So, what is my point???
Somewhere in my busy life, I need to find and make time for everything that is important for me. I need to scale down on things that are draining me and spend more time on things that are important, a benefit and which I simply love doing. You would notice that I did not even mention friends, making supper, cleaning and spending time on myself spiritually. These also need time.
Instead of having a long list of how you can make time for your writing, I am simply going to give you the one and only solution that works for me:
I juggle everything that I do, on a TO-DO list. When I don’t work with my to-do list, then I feel pretty lost. Among those items on my list, all three of my books are listed and I tell myself to, for example, ‘complete chapter 1 of this book’. When I have completed chapter 1, I write ‘complete chapter 2’ and I add it to the bottom of my to-do list. I might not get to it tomorrow, but I will get there. As time goes on, I know that I started from chapter 1 and progressed to chapter 5.
If you know me personally, then you will know how busy I am, and my encouragement to you is not to stop working, stop spending time with family, or even stop doing important things. Instead, fit writing into your schedule by spending ten minutes a day just writing, even if it is one paragraph per day. One paragraph is better than no paragraph.
I am no mathematician, but I can guess that writing one paragraph per day, could end up being a completed book by the end of the year.
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