Leanne Phillips

Paula Huston, author of Daughters of Song and The Holy Way: Practices for a Simple Life, has an interesting perspective on the idea of making time to write. “Don’t,” she says.

Paula lives in the next town over and gave a workshop several years ago at a local writer’s conference I attended. What she had to say forever changed the way I look at my writing schedule.

Paula’s advice was to stop putting everything else first and fitting writing in where you can, a practice which often leaves a writer with little or no time to actually write. Instead, she said, writing should be the main focus. It’s the other stuff, things like cooking, cleaning, gardening and PTA meetings, that’s unnecessary.

Paula also recommended learning to say no to things that are not truly important to you and that don’t further your goals. Simplify your life, cut back on activities that are not adding to your life and focus your energies on writing. Don’t do things that really are not important to you out of a sense of obligation.

Don’t make time for writing. Turn that notion on it’s head: If writing is your passion, then make writing the center of your life, and when you feel like it, make time for all the other stuff.