Justifying the time to yourself and others

[Hameth]

Hello. I am a late starter, mid 50s, and have had book ideas etc for years. I've joined a small group for accountability reasons. I've now got the bones of three chapters in the bag and a synopsis I'm happy with. But I don't know how to justify taking time even when I'm not doing anything useful. So watching TV isn't a good use of time, but writing would make me feel I was wasting, or pretending. Normal people watch TV, foolish imposters pretend they should write. Are there tips for this, does anyone else feel a fraud when writing?

Even bestselling, award-winning, best beloved, proper writers feel like this, even after being published time and again. I’ve seen Harlan Coben say it, and I’ve read that Stephen King sometimes experiences imposter syndrome. This is a good article

Maybe you're wasting time not doing it

Why do you need to justify it, though? People spend time doing things I think are completely without value -- watching football, playing bridge, going to psychic shows, sleeping out along the routes of royal weddings for days to wave little flags. But they don't need to justify these. They think it's a valid use of their time.

No one other than you needs to think it's a valid use of yours. I don't see why you think it's less valid than watching TV. You're making on paper a set of people being themselves in a world that didn't exist until you invented it.

@LinseedCrackers
You're making on paper a set of people being themselves in a world that didn't exist until you invented it.

Can I just say that I am writing this out to stick somewhere as inspiration? Brilliant!
😃

I try to think of it as any other 'healthy' hobby. No one complains about DH going to play footie with his mates on a Sunday morning for an hour. No-one quietly asks him when he's going to go pro, or isn't it about time he stopped messing about and made some money from it.

Writing is a valuable and rewarding thing to do even if noone else ever reads a word of it.

When it comes to that internalised motivation to sit and write without guilt or stress...well yes that's hard. I think this is what writing groups are for. External pressure but also look for a group that you can meet with that JUST writes together and doesn't talk. Find a place you can go to together, coffee shop, someone's dining room, that you ONLY go to write. Set yourself a time, an hour or two and say you will write for that long and then stop.

It's hard. I know, I'm the same. I work from home which means I have the constant feeling that I should be doing that instead.

Oh, I'm glad! Best wishes with your current project, whatever it is!