Picture this. You are in a totally empty house, alone with your thoughts. Your neatly written plot outline rests next to a steaming mug of your favourite beverage. Music perfectly aligned with your story’s theme plays nearby. You are dressed in your most comfortable, favourite outfit. You sit down to write contentedly, safe in the fact that no one will disturb you for at least 6 hours.
I have yet to experience this phenomena. In a household of five there is never a 6 hour stretch in which I am not called upon for nappy changes, feeding children, cleaning, teaching children, cooking, aiding my husband in a task or one of the many many other things that need my attention. While I have a super supportive family, their needs are just as important as my needs. It can be hard to find the motivation, then the quiet space, then the time to write. So hard in fact it rarely ever happens.
I’ve had to train myself to deal with this, and if you find you are struggling to find time to write, maybe this will help you. I like to call my craft guerilla writing, and I’m ready to do it anytime. A large part of this readiness is knowing that whatever I write is going to be garbage. A zero draft always is. A zero draft is what occurs before the official “first draft”. Its supposed to be messy. You can write notes to yourself in the document, highlight things to come back to, write “insert here” instead of a name or event or even add in pictures to describe something you don’t yet have the words for. It is no issue at all to have random half finished paragraphs all through the zero draft. The goal is words on page. Adopting this mindset of messy chaotic progress will allow you to be content if you are only able to write 200 words per sitting, because with guerilla writing, you can have as many sittings as you can squeeze in between other things.
The second thing is to let go of the idea that you need to be in the right “headspace” to write. You need to have a notebook or laptop in front you of, that is all. Never mind if the words aren’t coming out right, get those garbled up words on that page. Don’t despair when you are interrupted mid sentence and when you come back, you can’t remember what you wanted to say. Hit that enter button twice and move on. When you are guerilla writing, you are not worrying about whether the paragraph makes sense. Your only concern is to get words written. Editing is when you start worrying about comprehension.
If you really do need the right “headspace”, then what you will want to do is find two or three key things that aid you to get there that you can use anywhere, anytime and with minimal fuss to set up. If you need music in the background, download that music or save it on your phone. That way you can conjure the right mindset wherever you are. If you need a map of your story location print it and glue it to the inside of your notebook or tape it to the outside of your laptop. Try to make it so you can take your inspiration with you.
I also have established that if I am at my desk, everyone must ask if I have time to talk. This doesn’t apply when the family actually needs something, writer time will get cut in favor of emotional heart to hearts and surprise nappy changes. It is also completely lost on the three year old, which is why my zero drafts have so many unfinished sentences. It also helps to have some sort of visual marker indicating your currently residing in your fictional world. A sign tacked to the back of your chair works well, or maybe when a certain candle or lamp is lit they know only to interrupt you if its important.
There has never been a time when I have had an organised desk for more than an hour. If you are a chaotic mess like me I suggest you stop trying to organise it. I have two stacks of paper – things I’m currently working on and things that relate to non fictional stuff. Again, you’ll need to drill down what is actually needed for your writing process
. For guerilla writing to work you need to be able to separate your work from your desk anyways, so you can continue while the kids are playing in the lounge room, or when you take them to the park. There is nothing wrong with having a few extratools at the space you dedicate for work however. This is where the super size map of my fantasy worlds go. All of my stationary supplies are here, along with my oil burner so I can conjure the right fragrance to go with the story. In saying that, this is also where I watch Youtube and get lost in endless rabbit warrens of research. The desk can both be a super productive place as well as a time wasting spot. If I find I’m wasting too much time I’ll relocate.
The last bit of advice is not to stress. Yes, you want to get your story out as quick as you can. I get that and can totally relate. Stress takes time, however, time that could be spent doing all the other things clamouring for your attention. The less you focus on creating time to write the more time you’ll find available. It wasn’t until I had given up on the idea of writing while my toddler was awake entirely that I discovered a routine that allows for a few half hour periods free for writing. You don’t have to put your writing aside, but please, stop stressing yourself about not writing as much or as fast as other authors. And stop stressing about your word count. If you are able to write one paragraph, that is one paragraph more than you had the day before. There are on average 3-4 paragraphs on each page of a novel. This is changeable depending on dialogue, but if we assume 3 paragraphs per page, you can expect to find 900 paragraphs in an average 300 page novel. Writing one a day, it would take you two and a half years to finish. How many paragraphs can you write in a single sitting? There is no average length of time it takes to write a book, as every author is different in their practices. Find what works for you, and you’ll find yourself falling in love with writing all over again.
C.M. Wellsmore 