To continue from yesterday, on finding time to write in our busy, busy lives… well, I find that really everyone is pretty busy—I don’t meet many who say they are bored—and the best way I’ve found to make time is twofold:
1. Scheduling
Every other week, I choose a day that is typically slower with grading, and put “write” on my to-do list. It isn’t the only thing on my list, not by far (I will not show you my list—it is overcrowded and it makes me look crazy)—but having it on my list reminds me that when I do have some alone time in the evening, that I must dedicate the first thirty minutes of it to writing.
Sometimes I run over that thirty minutes, writing poetry in a mad-dash, sometimes I just read poetry and take notes. Either way, I find this fairly productive, and it’s much easier to accomplish then doing a for-real “artist date”, where I must leave the house and everything. I consider this the “work-out video” equivalent of writing time—maybe not quite as awesome as a five-mile run (equivalent to the writing residency?) but a workout nonetheless.
2. Gap Times
If you really pay attention to it, most of you, no matter how busy, will find that you have tiny three and five minute gaps in your day where you could possibly fit writing in, if only to jo down an idea, image, phrase.
Some of the best gap times for me are while the girls are eating breakfast, absorbed in playing with each other but also not hitting or fighting with each other (three minute segments, here and there), while I’m cooking dinner, and while I’m driving to work (just kidding on the last one, ha). I try to keep a notebook and pen handy at all times—I’ve been doing that since my first creative writing class, and it’s a habit I plan on keeping my entire life.
Also, pay attention to where you are wasting time. I rarely watch TV or spend time on the internet, aside from work, so that frees up a lot of time for me. I also don’t fold clothes very efficiently, iron EVER, pre-rinse the dishes as well as my husband does, or make my own bread from scratch—I’m ok with that.
Figure out what you are OK with cutting from or cutting back on in your schedule—you may have time for writing that you didn’t realize you had, if you make writing more of a priority.
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So that’s my secret, how I make time for writing. Using those methods, I typically write two to three poems a month, though my “goal”, if I have one at all, is only 1 poem every two months. I write less and have less time for it, but I use my writing time much more efficiently—when I sit down to write, I WRITE!
I hope that some of these tips will give you ideas so that you can do the same!
What are your time limitations? What are some activities you could cut back on to make room for writing?
Renee Emerson 
thoughts?