When people discover I am a full-time writer, they often say to me, “I would write more if I, too, had all the time in the world.” I usually just smile when I hear that because I know better; you don’t need all the time in the world to write, you just need to make time.

When I was in the corporate world with a nine hour day topped with a four hour commute, I wrote – even if it was just for fifteen minutes at the end of the day. Yet when I began my writing career and finally had a full day to write or be creative I would sometimes to do anything but.

I’d surf the net, take long walks, wreck my brain for ideas and then beat myself up for not doing anything about them. I’d make up lists of chores that I had to do – even though I hate chores. I’d find necessity in doing laundry, scrubbing dishes and general flat tidying. I ended up feeling as though with everything going on in my life, I actually had little time for writing.
It took me awhile to understand that what I perceived as little time was actually a misuse of time. I didn’t know how to control my day or the excuses I made as to why I couldn’t write. Excuses such as I was too tired, unmotivated, lacked creativity, no deadlines, too busy, it’s late, what does it matter, I’ll get better tomorrow.

However, I stopped making excuses one night when my husband came home with a look of shear exhaustion on his face. He had spent a full day in a demanding job followed by two demanding university classes even with little sleep since the night before he had been studying all night long. For the past two years, he’s been doing this four days a week and some weekends which leaves him with little time for anything else. However, he takes what little time he has and uses it to attend guitar lessons, practice guitar, study, work on the home, spend time with me and even fit in naps.

Asking him how he does it all (and without complaining!) he simply told me, “It’s my choice.”
That simple answer was a wake-up call for me for here I was with all the time, few demands but little done. He doesn’t have more time in the day than I do, in fact, he has less. Yet he gets all his work done as well as all his personal tasks because he knows how to use every second of the day. He has learned he won’t have a full day to learn guitar so he has learned how to use the time he has so that he can do what he wants to do.

I decided then to make another choice – to really use the time I had. If I used to write when I had a full-time job, I should be able to now that writing was my full-time job.

Now, I’m finding, I have a lot more time and a lot less stress. Finally.

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