So you work all day. How do you have time to keep up!?

I totally get it.  I work.  I have two kids.  I like to cook a real meal for dinner, keep up on the laundry, and not let the house fall to pieces while I try and write.  So, being busy like that, how do I find time to write!?  This is such a common question, and a BIG problem for many people.

So what DO you do?  I have a few things that really work for me!  :)

Do you have a smart phone?  You could get a memo application for free, and write down your ideas quickly while on break at work, or in lulls during the day/between customers/between phone calls.  You could bring a laptop or a notebook with you to write notes down on during your lunch and/or your breaks.  Get yourself a special notebook that is fun to look at, for inspiration.  (I let my kids pick out their very own notebooks this year too, since they're writing with me!  They thought it was AWESOME!)

If you have that memo application on the phone, you probably also have a voice-to-text option.  You can talk into the phone and it will translate your words to the page, so you can give yourself notes between traffic lights on the driving you have to do.  It might make note taking go faster in any case.

And if there's no memo application, you could likely find a "voice memo" application to use instead.  Like an old fashioned tape recorder!  :)  Heck, I have one of those too, and that would work just fine as well!  A phone is just less bulky and easier to hide at work.

Really what it comes down to...  keep the story moving in your head.  Plan while you cannot write.  Think about where you are going next, so when you DO get home and CAN sit down to write, you know what you want to say.  It will make your writing time much MUCH more productive.

Sitting at home all day with no plan in mind, blank page in front of you and no idea what to say is no more productive than being at work all day.

And if you have not yet, try finding someone to word sprint with!  You set a time to start, set a length of time to write (my favorite is 20 minutes.  Long enough to really get somewhere, but short enough I can usually focus uninterrupted, then go check on kids, etc)...  and write.  You share your word counts from your sprint, and rally each other on.  There are sprinters all the time on the NaNoWriMo Facebook groups.  Join up!  Get moving!  :)  And good luck!!

• List of groups, if you want to join one/some/all:
• NaNoWriMo group, not official, but very active
• NaNoWriMo MS Recovery Group
• NaNoWriMo AYR (all year round)
• WriMore International
• NaNoWriMo Support Group (The Real Deal) ~ Not official either