make time to write, already
Anyone can write.
Once, twice. A couple posts every couple weeks. But to become a writer requires more than a whim, a keyboard, and a random spare hour now and again. To become a writer is to live a writer’s lifestyle.
In high school, I wrote. Once, twice. A smattering of journal entries.
In college, I became a writer. Posting on my blog Friday mornings. Locking myself in the computer lab all Sunday. Covering women’s basketball on Tuesday.
The basketball games paid $8.50 per story. So roughly $2.12 per hour. Worth it.
During my first job, I became a writer. Not from 9-5. In the morning before Kate woke up. On my 1-hour lunch break after shoveling down leftover tuna casserole. During the commute home.
I forged my routines when there was still time to fill. That’s the ideal way to find writing time: do it before your schedule is crammed full.
Really, there are only 2 other ways to “find time” to write.
Option 1 for making time to write: perform your current commitments faster.
You have an 8-hour shift. Can you do your work in 6 hours and use the other 2 for writing?
You cook breakfast for your family. Can you prep the night before?
You work out at the gym for an hour. Can you jot down ideas between sets?
I’m really asking you here.
Option 2 for making time to write: is eliminating your current commitments.
You have an 8-hour shift. Do you need it?
You cook breakfast for your family. Can they maybe fend for themselves twice a week?
You need to go to the gym for an hour. Can you walk for 45 minutes instead?
I’m really asking you here.
You need motivation to write? Ok.
There’s a familiar little parable that gets passed around the personal development space. It goes something like this:
“There is no such thing as procrastination. You would not procrastinate on something if you had the proper motivation. If I told you that I’d give you a million dollars for showing up at a parking lot on Main Street at 6 AM tomorrow, you’d magically find a way not to procrastinate.”
First:
Some people really would find a way to fumble this imaginary opportunity. They have been carrying bad habits for so many decades that they don’t have a free hand to pick up good opportunities.
Let’s assume you aren’t part of that sad crowd.
What’s a good motivation for writing?
The motivation for writing might be “to see my words on a page and publish them.”
ChadGPT and friends generate words faster than you’ve ever dreamed.
And you can say that “you” wrote them. If you’re short on time, probably this motivation will not last when life gets busy.
The motivation for writing might be “to become famous.”
That’s an empty motivation. I’ve been there.
Got famous. Then got ignored. Then moaned and cried and nearly quit. Then found a better motivation.
(More on that later)
The motivation for writing might be “to become rich”
Did you not read how little money I made at the newspaper?????
But ok, fair. That was traditional journalism: one news outlet covering many topics. Back then, it was a dying field. These days, it’s a rotting corpse.
Plenty of reasons why that is. One piece of proof is this:
Yesterday, I got my news from the sidebar on X. That sidebar sourced that news from the 500 million new posts published each day. Then, it checked my user history to see what I’m interested in. Then, it showed me news items with coherent headlines.
Much “journalism” now comes from average citizens, reporting on live events. They do this for $0.
Who needs journalists?
(You may ask — “But Todd, what about the stories that average citizens don’t know about? Secret deals behind closed doors? Political moves intentionally hidden from the public? Shouldn’t journalists tell us about those?”
The answer, of course, is yes.
The solution requires far more time than I have here)
Where were we?
Ah yes. The whole “getting rich by writing” thing.
Traditional journalism is out.
This means if your motivation for writing is getting rich, you must write to accomplish some business objective.
Writing copy.
Writing content.
Writing online courses.
Writing niche newsletters. (Modern journalism)
Any of these can be a tremendously lucrative pursuit.
The catch is that your topic, post length, and objectives are dictated to you. Your curiosity is boxed in.
(Good for the bank account. Not great for the soul.)
The motivation for writing might be “to understand yourself and the world.”
This is the best reason to write, although I don’t feel very confident in my ability to convince you of that. It feels like trying to introduce you to my imaginary friend.
Best I can offer is this:
When you understand yourself and the world, you make better choices.
Better career choices.
Better money choices.
Better relationship choices.
To write is to hold a little conference with yourself. To say “ok self, how can we make our existence less awful?”
Self always has an answer. It’s just shy. It’s waiting for a page, a pen, and a consistent quiet time to reveal the truth.
It wants you to make the time to write.