Okay, this lack is a particularly daunting one to overcome. Most of us writer-wannabes have day jobs, are raising families, have elderly parents to care for, or are otherwise just really busy with life in general.  It’s hard to find time to read a good book let alone write one.   Believe me, I can relate.  After working all day, driving my kids to practice, coming home and cooking dinner, feeding the pets, cleaning the kitchen, paying bills and tucking everyone in at night, I barely have the energy to put myself to bed.  Weekends are even worse for they involve all-day tournaments, errands, and mountains and mountains of laundry.

So, how can we make time to write? As much as I wish I could tell you to quit your day job, hire a housekeeper and a chef, and set up Uber accounts for your kids, that’s just not realistic for most of us.  There is a secret, though.  Would you like to know what it is?  Well, it’s simple. When you really love something, you make the time for it.

I love writing and so have figured out a few ways to steal some time for myself each and every day to write. Here are a few of my tips and tricks:

Know how you’re spending wasting your time.  For one full week, write down how you spend your free time (by free time I mean time where you’re not at your job or taking care of your dependents). Are you on the phone talking with friends for hours?  Are you binge-watching Game of Thrones?   Are you playing Words with Friends or Solitaire on your phone?  I bet it won’t even take a whole week to figure out where you’re wasting valuable time on non-value added activities.  I was able to find six hours a week on average to devote to writing just by cutting out excess TV time.

Have writing tools with you wherever you go.  J.K. Rowling brings a writing journal with her everywhere. What a wonderfully simple, yet effective, method for making writing possible no matter where you are.  I always have a notebook with me, too, however I have terrible handwriting.  By terrible I mean completely illegible.  I have to type, so I bought myself a laptop that I use at home and a tablet that I take to every one of my kids’ tournaments and practices.   I also use my phone to email myself great ideas when they come to me at work or the grocery store.  And, there are plenty of voice recording phone apps you can download for free to use as dictation devices.  I can’t stand the sound of my own voice, so these apps are not for me, but they work really well for my writer friends.  Figure out which tools work best for you and make sure they’re always at your disposal.

No excuses.  Ironically, in the time we spend making excuses why we don’t have time to write we could actually be writing. What’s your excuse?  Is it your kids?  Is it the furniture in the living room that must be dusted before you can allow yourself time to write?  Look, don’t use chores or your kids or whatever as your excuse not to write.  Your house can be a little dusty while you write.  Or better yet, teach your kids how to dust and put them to task while you work on your book.

Exercise.  I found that when I exercise by myself and listen to music I kind of automatically drift off into a problem area of the book I’m working on. By the time I’ve completed my first half mile on the elliptical, I have a possible solution, sometimes more than one.  Maybe it’s the endorphins from exercising, maybe it’s the music I listen to.  Either way, exercising has become my secret weapon for problem-solving/writer’s block.

A place to write.  I recently visited The Elephant Café, a quaint little restaurant in Edinburgh, Scotland, where J.K. Rowling is famed to have written Harry Potter. I’ll be honest, I saw the appeal as soon as I walked through the doors.  What a great place to write a series as magical as Harry Potter.  And, the people watching was superb.  I can’t help but wonder how many passersby became unwitting characters in her books?

While there are no great café’s in my hometown for writing other than the usual chain coffee shops, I have found I do best when writing from the comfort of my sanctuary, which in my case is my home office. I can write from anywhere, but I get lost in my writing when I’m in a comfortable place with no distractions.  If it’s not possible to find a cozy, quiet place to write, learn how to tune out the chaos around you and just start writing.  I know you can do it.

Morningbird or night owl?  Some people like to wake up in the morning and start writing with their morning coffee. I secretly hate these people.  They are disciplined.  They are devoted.  They make me feel lazy.  I can’t write in the morning.  I just can’t.  I am a night owl and always have been.  I need to write in the evening when it’s dark and the stars are out and I feel the most connected to the universe at large.  Do I write during the day sometimes?  Sure.  But, my most productive writing occurs in the evening.  Find your best time of day for writing and make changes in your schedule accordingly.

Make a goal.  I write every day, even if all I’m doing is writing scene cards for my story board. I’ve been writing every day for 48 days now.  My goal is to write every day for a full year.  It may sound impossible, but actually once you get a few weeks under your belt it’s pretty easy.  The hardest part is writing when you feel discouraged, like when you reread a chapter in your first draft that you loved a few weeks ago but now think is total garbage.  You have to push through it.  Set a goal for yourself that is realistic, but still a bit of a stretch, and hold yourself accountable.

Daydream.  I attend a lot of meetings in my line of work.  I mean A LOT.  While my esteemed colleagues are busy taking five minutes of legitimate content and stretching it out over an hour or more, I am off daydreaming about the characters in my book wondering what they’re up to.  Sometimes I take notes, sometimes not.  It depends if my boss is sitting next to me or not.  Either way, try to capitalize on those times of day when your brain is underutilized, like on the subway during your morning commute, or while waiting in the checkout line at the grocery store.

Have more than one project going at a time.  Sounds counterintuitive? Think about it – if you only have one active project, what happens when you find yourself facing a bit of writer’s block?  You might put your project aside and not go back to it for weeks, maybe even months.  This is why many writers start a blog, so they can keep writing during those brief (hopefully) spells of writer’s block.  If you’re really ambitious, you might even be able to juggle multiple book projects at the same time.  Some writers can do this with ease, some find it easier to completely finish with one project before starting another. Either way is fine, just don’t stop writing.

Here’s the thing, you deserve guilt-free time to create, whether it’s writing, knitting, painting, baking, or rebuilding car engines. Make the time.  Eliminate the excuses.  Banish the lack.  There is no better way to feed your soul.  You know I’m right.

“The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul.”

-Dieter F. Uchtdorf