AUTHORS HOW DO YOU MANAGE??!!!

[Roney]

Okay, this is a bit of a rant, I guess. But I do need advice as well.

So when I started my writing journey, I didn't have a job. Did not really hit the gym either(broke).

Two months ago, I started my first job. And with the job came money, so I started going to the gym. So I went from having all the time in the world to getting home at like 8-9 at night after work and the gym.

I could not find time to write during the weekdays whatsoever. And honestly had lost motivation to write on the weekends as well due to social activities that were now only possible on weekends. I mean I did have a buffer of like two chapters that I could have used to slowly write I guess but I decided against it and instead have been writing slowly for the past 2 months and now have 5 chapters in the buffer.

I also did just get shifted to hybrid mode (two days wfh) so I should have more time on my hands.

But I still want to know. How do you guys manage work, gym, social life, etc with writing consistently?

 

[Alski]

If your work is active, you can probably skip most of what you are doing at the gym.

 

[PBJ_Time]

Okay, this is a bit of a rant, I guess. But I do need advice as well.

So when I started my writing journey, I didn't have a job. Did not really hit the gym either(broke).

Two months ago, I started my first job. And with the job came money, so I started going to the gym. So I went from having all the time in the world to getting home at like 8-9 at night after work and the gym.

I could not find time to write during the weekdays whatsoever. And honestly had lost motivation to write on the weekends as well due to social activities that were now only possible on weekends. I mean I did have a buffer of like two chapters that I could have used to slowly write I guess but I decided against it and instead have been writing slowly for the past 2 months and now have 5 chapters in the buffer.

I also did just get shifted to hybrid mode (two days wfh) so I should have more time on my hands.

But I still want to know. How do you guys manage work, gym, social life, etc with writing consistently?

Simple, fam. I listen to this banger:

 

[Macha]

Carefully. Bold of you to assume I have work, gym, or social life.

 

[DireBadger]

Or just have no social life. That's how most writers do it.

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

It's a commitment. Simple as that.

If you cannot commit the time to write, then you should question if you should bother doing it at all, at least on a regular basis.

You either need to choose how important writing is over the other things you listed, or find other areas to trim more time out of your day.

Do you waste time on gaming or watching YT/TikTok/TV? Cut back on that to write instead.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

I had a set time at the end of my workday when I got home to write either for 1 hour or 1k words, whichever came first. It took a while to form the habit but it really helped.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

I haven't yet. So fell from roughly 1.5 chapters a day when not working to two a day when hospitalized, to 4 a week when I started my first part time job, down to 2 a week when I'm lucky after starting a second one.

 

[_oinkchan]

Okay, this is a bit of a rant, I guess. But I do need advice as well.

So when I started my writing journey, I didn't have a job. Did not really hit the gym either(broke).

Two months ago, I started my first job. And with the job came money, so I started going to the gym. So I went from having all the time in the world to getting home at like 8-9 at night after work and the gym.

I could not find time to write during the weekdays whatsoever. And honestly had lost motivation to write on the weekends as well due to social activities that were now only possible on weekends. I mean I did have a buffer of like two chapters that I could have used to slowly write I guess but I decided against it and instead have been writing slowly for the past 2 months and now have 5 chapters in the buffer.

I also did just get shifted to hybrid mode (two days wfh) so I should have more time on my hands.

But I still want to know. How do you guys manage work, gym, social life, etc with writing consistently?

Real authors procrastinate

 

[DireBadger]

It's a commitment. Simple as that.

If you cannot commit the time to write, then you should question if you should bother doing it at all, at least on a regular basis.

You either need to choose how important writing is over the other things you listed, or find other areas to trim more time out of your day.

Do you waste time on gaming or watching YT/TikTok/TV? Cut back on that to write instead.

This is absolutely true. Serious writers tend to cut down everything, including sleep.

Me, I am lucky that I can devote as much time to it, all it took was getting a foot shot off in a war. I still get to bed late and get up early to write, And I am lucky I got married 30 years ago to give me the time NOW.

Writing is a demanding mistress, and if you can't find the time for her, she won't go to bed with you.

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

This is absolutely true. Serious writers tend to cut down everything, including sleep.

Me, I am lucky that I can devote as much time to it, all it took was getting a foot shot off in a war. I still get to bed late and get up early to write, And I am lucky I got married 30 years ago to give me the time NOW.

Writing is a demanding mistress, and if you can't find the time for her, she won't go to bed with you.

First time I ever considered being dismembered as 'Lucky'. My PTSD is from another soldier thinking I was his boyfriend...good times...

 

[Roney]

If your work is active, you can probably skip most of what you are doing at the gym.

Not active at all.

Do you waste time on gaming or watching YT/TikTok/TV? Cut back on that to write instead.

I do do that. Its really hard to get out of those things but yeah I should probably just do that.

I had a set time at the end of my workday when I got home to write either for 1 hour or 1k words, whichever came first. It took a while to form the habit but it really helped.

Okay this I could try. 1 hour per day should be doable. Usually till now I have gone with bursts of writing every other day or so. Which is why I think I havent been able to fit it in?

This is absolutely true. Serious writers tend to cut down everything, including sleep.

I am already getting less sleep as is cause of a long commute to work

 

[PancakesWitch]

well the difference is that you dont see writing as a work, you consider it something that cannot really get you anywhere so you dont write anymore, i consider it my job, my hobby, and my passion, writing is my life and i love writing, i never gave up writing nor i tried to abandon my dreams for some terrible job i dislike
you gave up, i worked harder than anybody
that's the difference
if you're not willing to put the same amount of effort and passion as many of us put into our works, please dont go asking us how you can't do what we do.

 

[Author_Riceball]

Okay, this is a bit of a rant, I guess. But I do need advice as well.

So when I started my writing journey, I didn't have a job. Did not really hit the gym either(broke).

Two months ago, I started my first job. And with the job came money, so I started going to the gym. So I went from having all the time in the world to getting home at like 8-9 at night after work and the gym.

I could not find time to write during the weekdays whatsoever. And honestly had lost motivation to write on the weekends as well due to social activities that were now only possible on weekends. I mean I did have a buffer of like two chapters that I could have used to slowly write I guess but I decided against it and instead have been writing slowly for the past 2 months and now have 5 chapters in the buffer.

I also did just get shifted to hybrid mode (two days wfh) so I should have more time on my hands.

But I still want to know. How do you guys manage work, gym, social life, etc with writing consistently?

Just minimize unnecessary stuff. Everyone has the same amount of time but it’s an issue of prioritization but you probably spend several hour a day scrolling or doing something that doesn’t really result in much improvement in your life

 

[Silentmass_Louigoas]

Honestly, for me, it is a mixed bag from everything everyone in this thread had said, plus a bit of psychology on top.

First off, i am not an shining exemple, because I've haven't uploaded any new chapters in months( though i am still writing). And second: i am no psychologist or psychiatrist, but: I've read and learned a lot on the subject, at least to try and understand myself better. Those are ways that help me keep writing consistently, if they can help you then go for it, otherwise feel free to ignore.


My observations are:

- pacing and schedule: helps a lot for motivation and not burning yourself out. What also helps is dedicating a set time before hand where you know you'll have time to write, this gives structures and helps form habits, which over time, will help you brain figure out that "Ah! This is the time to be creative, let's fuc**** go!".
But once again, i am no psychology major or anything, it works for me, might not for you.
While i am speaking about scheduling and pacing, if you know about the pomodoro technique, it helps, if not go look it up, it boils down to working in series short sequences spaced with breaks (it can be 10 min like it can be half an hour or even seen hour), with the goal of increasing the time you work each time. The main objective is to work as much as you are able to focus, meaning that when you feel your focus dropping, you push a little bit more, but not more then a minutes or two.

- learning to get bored / let your brain rest : this also help with motivation and creativity. Things like using your phone while on the toilet, reading or watching something while you eat, or listening to a podcast while doing something else like driving: all these types of things will take up the time your brain needs to rest and recover from your prior activities. The brain craves variety as much as it craves stimulus, so having moments where you are actively resting/doing nothing and moments you are actively doing something with intent helps both recover faster and better from mental fatigue but also be more focused and motivated in what your are doing. Remember, the brain hates boredom, but can't endure it as well as you can, meaning that you can wait it out until you feel motivated to write.

- Managing expectation: with my case being similar to yours, i really struggled with wanting to write and being unable to: when i started going to my social worker training in September, it was really exhausting and i needed (and still need) like two to three hours each day afterwards to recover, letting me only two hours to do my homework, cook for the next day and clean up before going to bed. What really helped me then is accepting that i won't be able to write during week days, it pulled a weight of my chest like you wouldn't believe. Between the stress of returning to school at nearly thirty, having to slow down/stop writing when it started as both a passion and a therapeutic project, it had hit me hard. But accepting that i can't and shouldn't write when i don't have time to do it helped a lot. Especially when i scheduled my writing session on the week end, made me really anticipate and look forward to the times I freed expressedly for that.

- last but not least: the weight of what you want to do and why do you write?
No need for a grand reason or whatever, just: why do you want to write?
Remembering the whys is what helped me keep writing.
Currently, my life is split between: school, school related activities, needing to take an hour long walk at least 3 time a week, speaking with my friends, writing and sleep+eating.
Each are extremely important to me, some more then others: i need my schooling to finally get a degree, i need to have my walks for my mental health, same goes with my writings and speaking with my friends in top of the other reasons.
And i cannot, under any circumstances, cut down on sleep and food, I've been there and done that, and i absolutely refuse to go down that miserable path again.

But between each of those are cracks and gaps where my bad habits sneak into, transforming a 15 minutes meal break into a thirty to an hour doom scrolling, toilet break turns into more doom scrolling, getting back ready to sleep only to see a thirst trap on my feed making me hor**, etc...
This is the worst time sink i have in my life, and i am still trying my best to unscrew it and free myself from them. But on the days where i am about to do so? I find much more free time to do whatever the hell i want.
So yeah, good luck with that as well.

TLDR:
-make a schedule for times reserved just for writing,
-pace yourself so you don't burn your creativity and motivation,
-maybe use the pomodoro technique,
-learn to get bored by not using your phone where you shouldn't, aka stop filling your time by being "productive" (doing two things at the same time)
-take true and intentional breaks where you actively rest,
-accept that you cannot write as much as before,
-weight the things you do in your life to decide what's important to you,
-be careful of addiction and bad habits by planning your days around them by generating options of the things you can do ( good and bad) and what want to do and play out the consequences of each choice in your head.
-mind any gap or crack in your schedule and stop them from swelling into hours long "waste of times".

Good luck. Hope i could have been of any help.

 

[LeilaniOtter]

I'll sometimes stop whatever I'm doing, take some notes, and refine things later. The trick is that you don't always have to just write and spend lot of time - you can take notes, self-brainstorm, etc., which could take much less time. Then when you have more time, go back and expand your notes, refine what you wrote so that it's workable. I think that's a good practice. It's helped me for quite a lot of years. *^^*

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

Honestly, for me, it is a mixed bag from everything everyone in this thread had said, plus a bit of psychology on top.

First off, i am not an shining exemple, because I've haven't uploaded any new chapters in months( though i am still writing). And second: i am no psychologist or psychiatrist, but: I've read and learned a lot on the subject, at least to try and understand myself better. Those are ways that help me keep writing consistently, if they can help you then go for it, otherwise feel free to ignore.


My observations are:

- pacing and schedule: helps a lot for motivation and not burning yourself out. What also helps is dedicating a set time before hand where you know you'll have time to write, this gives structures and helps form habits, which over time, will help you brain figure out that "Ah! This is the time to be creative, let's fuc**** go!".
But once again, i am no psychology major or anything, it works for me, might not for you.
While i am speaking about scheduling and pacing, if you know about the pomodoro technique, it helps, if not go look it up, it boils down to working in series short sequences spaced with breaks (it can be 10 min like it can be half an hour or even seen hour), with the goal of increasing the time you work each time. The main objective is to work as much as you are able to focus, meaning that when you feel your focus dropping, you push a little bit more, but not more then a minutes or two.

- learning to get bored / let your brain rest : this also help with motivation and creativity. Things like using your phone while on the toilet, reading or watching something while you eat, or listening to a podcast while doing something else like driving: all these types of things will take up the time your brain needs to rest and recover from your prior activities. The brain craves variety as much as it craves stimulus, so having moments where you are actively resting/doing nothing and moments you are actively doing something with intent helps both recover faster and better from mental fatigue but also be more focused and motivated in what your are doing. Remember, the brain hates boredom, but can't endure it as well as you can, meaning that you can wait it out until you feel motivated to write.

- Managing expectation: with my case being similar to yours, i really struggled with wanting to write and being unable to: when i started going to my social worker training in September, it was really exhausting and i needed (and still need) like two to three hours each day afterwards to recover, letting me only two hours to do my homework, cook for the next day and clean up before going to bed. What really helped me then is accepting that i won't be able to write during week days, it pulled a weight of my chest like you wouldn't believe. Between the stress of returning to school at nearly thirty, having to slow down/stop writing when it started as both a passion and a therapeutic project, it had hit me hard. But accepting that i can't and shouldn't write when i don't have time to do it helped a lot. Especially when i scheduled my writing session on the week end, made me really anticipate and look forward to the times I freed expressedly for that.

- last but not least: the weight of what you want to do and why do you write?
No need for a grand reason or whatever, just: why do you want to write?
Remembering the whys is what helped me keep writing.
Currently, my life is split between: school, school related activities, needing to take an hour long walk at least 3 time a week, speaking with my friends, writing and sleep+eating.
Each are extremely important to me, some more then others: i need my schooling to finally get a degree, i need to have my walks for my mental health, same goes with my writings and speaking with my friends in top of the other reasons.
And i cannot, under any circumstances, cut down on sleep and food, I've been there and done that, and i absolutely refuse to go down that miserable path again.

But between each of those are cracks and gaps where my bad habits sneak into, transforming a 15 minutes meal break into a thirty to an hour doom scrolling, toilet break turns into more doom scrolling, getting back ready to sleep only to see a thirst trap on my feed making me hor**, etc...
This is the worst time sink i have in my life, and i am still trying my best to unscrew it and free myself from them. But on the days where i am about to do so? I find much more free time to do whatever the hell i want.
So yeah, good luck with that as well.

TLDR:
-make a schedule for times reserved just for writing,
-pace yourself so you don't burn your creativity and motivation,
-maybe use the pomodoro technique,
-learn to get bored by not using your phone where you shouldn't, aka stop filling your time by being "productive" (doing two things at the same time)
-take true and intentional breaks where you actively rest,
-accept that you cannot write as much as before,
-weight the things you do in your life to decide what's important to you,
-be careful of addiction and bad habits by planning your days around them by generating options of the things you can do ( good and bad) and what want to do and play out the consequences of each choice in your head.
-mind any gap or crack in your schedule and stop them from swelling into hours long "waste of times".

Good luck. Hope i could have been of any help.

LMAO, 1000 word answer (literally, tossed it in a counter)... you sure you don't have a degree =P

 

[DireBadger]

First time I ever considered being dismembered as 'Lucky'. My PTSD is from another soldier thinking I was his boyfriend...good times...

There are MUCH worse things I could have lost than a piece of a foot :) I consider that lucky as hell, so do my kids.

 

[NotaNuffian]

 

[RepresentingCaution]

I used to write in a paper notebook in bed right before falling asleep, but then I procreated, and I had to hold my nipple in my crotch goblin's mouth multiple times a night. Then at seven months when it didn't need me to use my hands to hold my nipple in its mouth, I started reading to it, and now here we are four years later and I'm looking for my inspiration again.