5 Tips to Find Time to Write When You Have a Family
By: Smillew Rahcuef
Tags: Writers On Writing, Writing Tips, Writer, Writing, Time Management

State your expectations

Sometimes people honestly don’t realize that you’re busy. Maybe they should know better, but unless they’re part of the X-MEN, they can’t read your mind.

For example, working in an open-space can make it hard to stay focused for a long period. From my experience, the best way to do so is to stick a “do not disturb” paper on the back of your chair. It significantly decreases the number of people coming to see you for questions than can wait or chit-chat around a coffee that will get cold.

If you’re writing from home as I do, you’re likely to be in an open space of some sort. Unless you’ve got the luxury of a separate room (lucky you!). I don’t use the “do not disturb” sign, but I state my expectations in terms of time. It’s valid for my partner as well as for the children. For example, I ask not to be disturbed till lunch. (Don’t forget to tell them at what time lunch will be!).

I also experiment with a notebook for questions at the moment. Kids have questions all the time, of course. Often they cannot wait because they fear they’ll forget about them. So I put a notebook on the table where I’m working.

They can sit with me and write the question(s) they would like to ask. When I’m finished, we can go over them together. So far, the notebook was used mostly for drawings. But it’s actually nice. I’m more than ok with having someone working (or drawing) next to me. It can even be motivating.

Try to isolate yourself

When you see a free room in the apartment, annex it immediately! Typically, when kids are watching a cartoon, take over their room.

Go there and use their desk. That’s where I’m typing these words! You might have to clean the said desk a bit, but, trust me, it’s worth the price.

Make your available time even shorter!

The following technique is built around the Pomodoro one. It’s about slicing your time.

My main problem is that when I’ve got some free time, I might not be inspired to write at the very moment. Before Covid, I had long periods during the day that I could organize the way I pleased. I very much enjoyed this freedom.

Nowadays, I might have 40 minutes in front of me, but I feel constrained to use them efficiently. This constraint is very frustrating and rather blocking when it comes to writing.

Jean-Paul Sartre, the French existentialist philosopher, wrote that “freedom is what we do with what is done to us.”

If you give me 40 minutes, or rather if you force on me these specific 40 minutes, I’ll make 4 slices of ten minutes out of them. Type on your keyboard like crazy during at least two of these slices. Don’t correct typos, don’t edit, don’t look behind, keep on typing!

The constraint is even greater, but this time, it’s a chosen one. That makes a tremendous difference. A chosen constraint, contrary to an imposed one, boosts creativity.

Choose the task depending on the amount and type of time you have

Choosing a picture, editing, writing, submitting to publication… When it comes to writing, different tasks require different degrees of involvement and calm.

Typically choosing a picture can be a fun activity to do with kids. From my experience, they love to look at pictures and usually have good taste. If they got interested in a picture, the readers should be as well!

Take notes of ideas

A classic one when it comes to finding topics. It works as well when time is scarce.

If you have a good idea, it might be frustrating not developing it right away. By taking notes, you’ve got a chance to fall back in the flow later on.

I usually take short notes, full of typos on my phone; and I come back to them when time allows.

An additional advantage is that by taking these ideas out of your mind, you free-up some short-term memory space for more!