How do mums find time to write?

[Woodenmouse]

I have a 2.5 yr old ds and ds2 is due in exactly 2 weeks. I have always had a desire to publish a novel. I have a couple of (what I hope are) fairly good ideas. I just can't find the time to sit down and write for a significant amount of time. After Ds is in bed and I've caught up with the housework I just want to go to bed, even though the desire to write is there it's having the energy to sit and concentrate. How do other mums fit it in?

I set aside two evenings a week, usually when DH has had the DC's, and attack it after they've gone to bed. It's not as much time as I'd like, but it's better than nothing!

Until I made the conscious decision to say 'right, this is writing night' I found myself putting it off, and not doing any writing for three or four months at a time...

Hi Wooden. I have a 2yo and am TTC No. 2. And I'm desperately trying to finish my first novel (at about 55,000 words now). It's been a really slow process, all written in 20 minute snatches when she's been napping or asleep in the evenings. So it's taken me well over a year to get this far. I think now of the time before I had her when I had whole weekends free to write but didn't...
Anyway, I think it is doable, but it takes a lot of discipline to force yourself to sit at the computer and write when all you want to do in the evening is drink wine and watch TV. I found having word count goals each week helped - a lot of the time I wouldn't meet the goal, but at least it gave me something to aim for.

I set aside 2-3 evenings a week and try and do the cleaning up as I go, if that makes sense so there's minimal to do when DD is in bed at 7.30. Sometimes I give myself a night off if needs be, but routine works well for me. Just get cracking and the excitement of getting back to it will spur you on.

Best of luck with it!

Thank you for your replies!
I think I need to have a designated writing evening!!

App on phone that syncs with laptop (I use One Note) means I can slip down a few words or edit a tricky bit or add to my blocking whenever I have two minutes and/or the inspiration takes me. I tend to do a bit before I go to bed as my dreams sort out the fiddly bits and I can jot down the results in the morning.

Funnily enough I didn't write until I had DC.

Before that I was so rarely home. Suddenly with baby twins I was in the house so much more.

Basically, I wrote my first novel in all the time crevices of the day. Bit by bit by bit. A lot was completed whilst my toddlers were in the hell that is soft play.

15 years and many books later, I still have the habit of writing wherever and whenever. It's the early hours of the morning here. I am jet lagged and cannot sleep. So while my family snore away I will work on a scene.

I work full time (and have kids) I just don't find enough time to write, I am exhausted by the time I sit down.

Thankfully I am taking (very) early retirement next month so that I can devote all my 'working hours' to writing. I'm so excited about it I am in real danger of bursting

Wow diamond that sounds amazing! Ds1 starts playgroup in April 2 days a week so I'm hoping that I an use some of that time to write.

In my experience you get much better at using those precious free moments efficiently after you have kids If you have a couple of mornings free every week you'll definitely be able to crack on with the book.

I've almost finished my first novel. I wrote it quickly, I made myself write 1000 words a day, 5 days a week. (It's not highbrow!).

The only way I've been able to do it was getting up an hour before the kids each day. I used to write at night but I was just too tired. I write for a living though so by the time night came I just wasn't inclined to start something new.

To be blunt if you don't prioritise it it won't happen.

If that means leaving dirty dishes in the sink and going without sleep, so be it.

If you want an easy life pick something else.

Are any of you making money from your writing (outside work hours or a job that involves writing)? Ericnorthman?

francis I've been very lucky that I have been able to make a good living from writing for many years now.

I've had eight novels published. I'm currently contracted for another two.

I'm also script write.

Wow what genre(s) do you write in?

My novels are crime fiction.

The scripts have been a mixture. I'm currently working on a YA speculative series ( both script and book concurrently ).

I write purely for pleasure, so I'm much more relaxed about some on here, but I have had to learn to write in short bursts as much as possible - I have google docs on all my devices which means I can nip on and write something down as and when, usually it's 15 minutes on the bus to and from work, and a bit here and there in the evening. I'm not writing a set number of words per day or trying to meet a deadline so the pressure is off and it's whatever I can devote to it.

I do try and look at it every day, even it it's not to write anything, I tend to fiddle and edit as I go along, and that is very achievable in short bursts.

Its definitely not my preferred way of working - in an ideal world I would have hours of time to really get stuck into something; I can mostly carve that out one or two evenings a week when it's going well but lets say I don't prioritise that when I can't be arsed with it. OH does complain if I take myself off to the other room to write too often.