Finding time to write

If you work in another industry, finding time to write may be easier than you think. Before I became a "professional" writer, I worked in the environmental industry as an analyst and product manager. And at that time, I started polishing my writing skills again by taking some "fun" creative writing classes.


How did I find the time to write when I was working 50, 60, and at times 80 hours a week? Simple. I started taking a lunch hour, for starters. :)  And then on weekends, there were some late-nighters as well. (Unlike many  writers, I'm a night owl by nature and the quietness of late night seems to feed my imagination more than the rushing energy during the day.)


Then I landed my first professional writing job, where I actually did spend all day writing. And guess what happened? Spending all day word-smithing zapped my creativity (and my brain!), and so my own creative projects started suffering. I mentioned it to some of the other staff writers, and ya know what?  Their own writing projects also moved to the back burner after they started writing professionally, full time, day after day. Hmmmmm. A common problem....


I guess I shouldn't really be so surprised because by the end of the day my eyes are dry and scratchy from starting at the computer screen all day and my brain is fried and the attention span is all but non-existent. :) I'm good for about 6 hours in front of the screen, but after that I need to do something else and let my brain rest!  On the other hand, this type of daily writing keeps my skills sharp, because the more you write, the easier it becomes, just like any other skill. Writing is a craft and a skill.


So what you'll be seeing in the blog over the next several months is how I find the time to finally finish several writing projects in my personal projects folder. I'll share with you here the ways I find to fit in my own writing projects, and that's not including my 2 websites and 2 blogs!


What? You didn't know about those? There's the writing site:  http://www.MelodieHawkins.com and this writing blog. Then there's the wellness center site:  http://www.LunaWellnessCtr.com where you'll find information on hypnosis, energy medicine, spiritual healing, angels, demons,  intuition (it's more of a creative site), and the Luna Wellness blog: http://www.lunawellnessctr.com/blog/ 


The wellness center site has been coming together nicely over the last couple of months. I changed hosting providers because I just didn't have the time to finish a re-design (using Dreamweaver) I had started. This way,  I can just concentrate on the content using pre-fab page designs.  But, if you want to see some of my own design work paired with some writing, visit the writing & editing site.  :)


So, next time I'll let you know what kind of progress I've made on the book. Until then, please think about what you say, how you say it, and write it well.