Finding time to write in a busy world

Goodness me… finding time to write with a full-time job, parenting a teenager and wearing approximately 47 different hats isn’t always easy.

I frequently daydream about disappearing on a writing retreat somewhere. Just me, a laptop, endless cups of tea and the fictional people living rent-free in my head.

Until then, I remind myself of something simple: there will either be time… or there won’t.

Writing isn’t just something I enjoy doing. It’s part of who I am. It’s right up there with my love for my daughter and that first quiet cup of tea before she wakes up each morning.

Those early moments are my favourite. Journal open. Bible beside me. A prayer. A little stillness. Just enough time to breathe before the world barges in demanding things.

The truth is, I probably wouldn’t have started writing fiction again if it weren’t for a few beautiful friends.

They kept gently saying, “Just write. Even if it’s only a few words.”

I laughed.

“A few words?” I said. “You’re funny.”

Because if I sit down to write, there’s a good chance you won’t hear from me for several hours and a few thousand words will have magically appeared.

Their faces usually say it all.

“Yep,” I shrug. “That’s just how I roll.”

Those gentle nudges led me back to the stories I’d abandoned more than a year ago when life took another unexpected turn.

Walking away from them made me genuinely sad.

But I also believed that if I was meant to come back to those stories, God would make a way.

He did.

A few weekends ago I somehow wrote 8,000 words in two days.

I had a deadline, a goal and, somehow, the words just came.

Honestly, I don’t think it’s all me.

Over the past little while I’ve become increasingly aware of the Holy Spirit working in my life. The creativity, the discipline and the words themselves often feel like a gift rather than something I’ve manufactured. It has been such a joy to spread my wings again.

Writing doesn’t only happen when I’m sitting at my keyboard.

It happens while I’m walking to work.

I people-watch, notice my environments

I notice conversations, little mannerisms, the way someone smiles at a stranger, the look on someone’s face while they’re waiting for a coffee.

I listen to music that instantly transports me into another world.

Every little observation gets tucked away into what I affectionately call my “Ideas Parking Lot” in Google Drive. One day those tiny moments become scenes, conversations or entire characters.

So how do I find time to write?

I don’t wait for perfect conditions.

I write when life allows me to.

Some weeks that’s thousands of words.

Other weeks it’s a paragraph scribbled into my phone while waiting in the school pickup line.

The important thing is staying connected to the stories.

Because stories are patient.

They wait.

And when you finally come back to them, they have a funny way of welcoming you home.

P.S. If you’re curious, Meg Mac’s latest album has been on repeat lately. When I actually sit down to write, though, it’s usually concentration or meditation music. Apparently my characters prefer fewer lyrics while they’re busy telling me what happens next.

What my week day morning looks like