Making the Time to Be Creative

Making the Time to Be Creative

• I write in the margins. I write in smaller increments when I can instead of waiting for long stretches of writing time. Sometimes I can only get 15 or 20 minutes to scribble something down. Sometimes I will have my lunch delivered and write on my lunch hour. When my kids were smaller, I had an hour between when my shift ended and my daycare closed down for the night. I would either linger in my office or find a coffee shop to make the most of that hour.
• I turn off push notifications. Push notifications are designed to make you stop what you are doing and pay attention to them. When I turn those off, I don’t have anyone pulling my attention. If that doesn’t work, I turn on Do Not Disturb. I only go into my apps to see if I have notifications when I take my breaks, two or three times a day.
• I do not check or answer emails after 5 pm. Especially university work emails. My job as an instructor is not so important that I need to check in when I am not on the clock. My students can wait. My boss can phone me. My coworkers can text me. Additionally, I don’t make decisions after 5 pm. If a designer sends me an image of cover art, I cannot sign off on it until the next day. If someone emails me about an interview, I don’t agree until the next day. No decisions until I have had at least one good sleep.
• I don’t volunteer. For anything. Ever. In the few instances that I have volunteered, it was usually from some place of guilt—a “good mom” would volunteer at their kids’ school. I would always have some moment where I would see the other volunteers and how eager they were to be a part of the event or even lead an event, and thought, “Wow. There are many more qualified people than me who want to be here.” I write a check instead. I don’t feel guilty about it either.
• I schedule writing time with others. I’ll meet with a writing friend at a local coffee shop, library, or classroom, so we can both work on our projects in pleasant silence. I’ve also set up write-ins on campus in the library and announced to students that it was a place where they could work on a project. It’s like when children parallel play and it’s incredibly productive because setting the meeting creates accountability. I’ve known other writers to do this over Zoom.
• I always keep my writing materials with me. Like a mobile writing station. I keep a journal, tablet with keyboard, and a collection of pens, highlighters, and Post-Its in a messenger bag that I take with me when I leave my house in the morning. If I’m running errands, I can stop off at a place with coffee and WiFi and sketch out scenes. My youngest child has told me that he actually loves what he calls coffee-shop days. We get snacks and while I write, he plays Roblox. Everyone wins.
• One night a week, I take the night off. Every Friday night, my husband is in charge of handling all of our children’s needs. Food, entertainment, questions, tasks, demands, these are all his responsibility on Friday nights. I get to do whatever I want. I have held process parties and typing parties where I work on edits while I munch on a cheese tray. But honestly the real gift is I don’t worry about not having time for myself, because I know that I am getting Friday night all to myself to rest, to recharge, to find inspiration unfettered by others.
• I ring the bell. At a writers conference recently, some individuals on a panel said they wanted a bell to hang outside of their writing space that they could ring at the end of a productive day. I love this idea and even asked my husband if he would be okay with me installing a cowbell outside of my writing space. He was not okay with it. However, there are many different ways to celebrate a good writing day. For a while, I would mark my writing days on my calendar with a silver star sticker—the same from elementary school days of yore. It doesn’t matter if I write all day, only on my lunch break, or 15 minutes to journal, I will still get a star.