How I Found Time to Write a Book While Raising Three Kids (and Homeschooling!)
“Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly.” ~Mae West
I remember it well. The first time I felt God calling me to write. I’d always loved writing, from journals to lists to short poems. But this was different.
I was pregnant with our third child, driving through town, on my way to the hardware store in small-town Nebraska. A beautiful voice came on the radio, singing her heart out to Jesus. I cried a little bit, asking God, “Why didn’t You give me that gift?”
He responded kindly, “Why are you afraid to use the gift you do have?” I knew immediately what He meant. Words. Pen and paper. Paragraphs, outlines, index cards.
Fast-forward to now, seven and a half years later. Just because writing is a calling doesn’t mean it’s been easy to pursue. If the publishing world is like the tortoise-and-the-hare story, I am definitely a tortoise.
There’ve been plenty of sleepless nights, interrupted days, and writing sessions that lasted five minutes instead of the two hours I’d planned because, Life. BUT. I did finish my novel last year. And since then, quite a few friends have asked, “How did you find time to write a book while homeschooling?” Here are the few tips and tricks I have learned…
1) Have a writing schedule, but keep it flexible.
Pick a time of day that works best for your family. In some seasons, I’ve blocked out 1-2 pm for writing (after lunch, while the kids take some quiet time). In a busier year, and when I wanted to really buckle down and finish the book, I would wake up at 5am and write for an hour every day while the house was quiet. Now we have an infant, so that schedule would not work for this sleep-deprived mama. Make a plan that works for your season, then be willing to change it when the season changes.
Of course, writing time gets interrupted because our families just need us sometimes, and they will always come first. But I found that once my kids knew my routine, they expected that Mommy would be taking quiet time. That expectation made it easier to sit down and write each day. And side note: don’t be hard on yourself on the days when it Just. Doesn’t. Happen. Take a deep breath and try again the next day. Remember that old saying, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” That might be a good saying to post somewhere near our writing desks!
2) Find a community. I think two tortoises walking together would be happier than one tortoise all alone, don’t you? Whether it’s a book club, or a real-life writing workshop, or an online writer’s group, find your village. I hesitated at first to join online writers’ groups because I feared the atmosphere would be competitive; but once I jumped in, I found that the opposite is true. Rarely have I seen groups of people that cheer each other on as much as writers’ groups do. Not only is a writers’ groups fun, it’s also a place where we can swap skills with each other, like brainstorming, proofreading, and reviewing.
3) Don’t give up. Call it a dream, or a calling, or a purpose; whatever you call it, don’t give up on it. I’ve heard some women say, “But is it really worth it to take the time to write? There are already so many authors out there.” Yes, but there are also a lot of readers out there. I believe that for every story, there is a reader; and no one else can tell YOUR story. As my friend likes to remind me, God’s ways are not our ways. He may use your unique story in ways you’re not even anticipating, much like He used the loaves and fishes given by a little boy on a hillside.
And here’s a secret: there’s a side benefit, as a mother, to the long hours you may spend with cramping hands at the computer. The gumption and tenacity that it takes to write a book from start to finish may well be the example that inspires your children to not give up on their own callings.
The bottom line, whether your dream is writing, or painting, or singing, or farming, or healthcare, or teaching, or anything else… if God called you to it, He can see you through it. Yes, the tortoise reached the finish line. But isn’t the story about how he got there just as significant as the moment when he finally arrived?
{If you’d like to learn more about the above-mentioned novel, The Inheritance, you can find it on Amazon, or on Barnes and Noble!}
And If you love to write – or if you have another dream that you’re hoping to pursue while in the trenches of a busy life – I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this post, or send me an email at writerlaurajane(at)gmail(dot)com, so that we can encourage one another.
Keep dreaming, and most importantly, keep clinging to Jesus,
Laura