Family and Writing

I got this idea from Elizabeth Craig's Blog Mystery Writing is Murder and thought that I would post the things I do to balance writing and family.

I used to write after work for as long as it took to get a chapter done. This ended when my work shift changed to a later time in the day and I didn't home till around 6:00pm, instead of 4. So when this change happened I struggled finding time to write, eat dinner with the family, relax and just spend time playing with the kids. I would usually stay up late after everyone went to bed and wrote while it was quiet. This wore me out as getting up at 6:30 in the morning every day and staying up till midnight wasn't conducive to my body.

And a tired body leads to a tired mind, which leads to uninspired writing.

So I knew I had to make a change. My 4 year old at the time was struggling going to sleep in her own bed after doing it for a few months on her own. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone. I would write in her room, while she laid in bed.

This allowed me semi-quiet time. She had a knack for talking to me while I was in her room, but that only lasted for about twenty minutes before she conked out. Since her bedtime is 8:30, meant I started writing earlier and still actually having time to spend with my wife after the kids were asleep.

I was able to write in peace for about an hour, which is all I can dedicate to my weekly writing. Weekends, I usually go to the local library to write for about 2-3 hours more.

So there you have it, how I became flexible to my family needs while maintaining my writing habits.