Finding Space To Write When You Don’t Have Time

The distance to becoming an “author” seemed impossible when God first laid it on my heart. There’s the platform. And finding a publisher or self-publishing. Oh, and the time to write.

And that is just scratching the surface.

Need I mention writing elevator pitches, marketing, editing, crafting your one-sheet and proposal? But I digress, and thinking about all the things that go along with writing can stop us in our tracks.

So when I attended my first She Speaks Conference in 2016, my prayer partner (you know who you are) challenged me to write for 31 days on a topic. This felt so daunting to me to be that disciplined to write every day. I mean, life happens and I was home-schooling five children, having health problems and working full time, so let’s just say I was not feeling confident that I would be able to complete the challenge. Kind of like that perpetual diet I am forever on … Can I get a witness?

But this message was burning in my soul, so I dared to commit, and it was hard, y’all. There were technical challenges with joining the 31-day blog challenge that I had to figure out. There were challenges with organizing my writing project. There were precious people all around me who made it difficult to finish my goal of writing a book in 31 days. Trying to escape these precious people by running to the bathroom didn’t help, because they followed and found me there. Work demands made it challenging to carve space for writing.

But I did it, y’all. And I self-published my first book. There were many lessons I learned along the way that have stuck with me in the quest to find space to write when there does not seem to be enough time and interruptions are constant.

1. Do it anyway.

“Best-laid plans often go awry.” The author who penned these words knew a thing or two about how to deal with plans that do not come to fruition.

It isn’t going to be pretty and perfect, but do it anyway. Schedules are in flux from day to day, so our plans to write at 5 a.m. will probably not happen consistently at that time every day. Do it anyway.

For those 31 days, I set a time, and sometimes that time shifted. But I did not relent and

sometimes I would have to flex how I wrote for those two hours. Sometimes it had to be in half-hour increments while I waited for the next opportunity to hide away and write.

2. Do it with a friend.

Have someone else there in the trenches with you. Root one another on, but don’t compare. You are on your writing journey, and they are on theirs. Email, text or call one another to encourage one another in your tasks and set the accountability you would like.

Here at COMPEL, you do not have to do it alone. Find a buddy in one of the FB groups, and encourage one another on your writing journey.

3. Do it scared.

Writing is a vulnerable act. We can worry about what people will think and base our calling on the engagement we get, but writing is also developing the gifts God has given and ensuring none of it is wasted. If we remember who we are writing for, we don’t worry about who is not a raging fan. For our writing is an act of worship when we do it for God’s glory. And fear falls to the floor when our motives are all about Jesus.

All for Jesus,

Denise

How can you make time today to move your calling forward? Baby steps keep our progress and momentum moving forward.