Why you don’t need hours of free time to write a novel

Not a long post today, but I wanted to address something that I hear over and over again, mostly from aspiring writers or people with half-completed novels:

“I’d love to write a book, but I don’t have enough time.”

Is time really the issue?

There are a couple of great quotes circling the internet about how people overestimate what they can accomplish in a day and underestimate what they can accomplish in a year.

I definitely think there is truth to this idea.

But, I’m flipping it on its head when it comes to writing a novel. I truly believe that when it comes to sitting down and writing a book, people underestimate how much they can write in 30 minutes, but grossly overestimate how much they can write in a couple of hours.

What I mean by this is that the vast majority of people who want to write a novel think they need long stretches of uninterrupted time to do so. They need space and quiet and a moment to reflect and settle in. They want to be inspired, feel motivated and call in their muse.

I’m calling BS.

How a lot of novels are really written:

Most novels are written in stolen moments: before breakfast, on the train commuting, in between removing one’s makeup and starting to make dinner. They are pieced together, haphazardly, in the 20 minutes you find during a lunch break, the 30 minutes you have while your daughter is at ballet class, the 45 minutes you manage to stay awake after you’ve done the dishes, helped your kids with their homework, chatted with your partner, and put in another load of laundry.

Yes, some novels are penned at writing retreats and workshops and during year-long MFA courses.

But a lot of novels are created in the tiny pockets of calm we manage to find in our lives.

Why you don’t need more time to write your novel:

I think we romanticize the notion of having all this free time. We say things like:

“If I had three hours every weekend, of course my book would be done.”

I can’t speak for everyone, but I find I’m rarely as productive as I intend to be with large blocks of uninterrupted time. I think it’s because when I know I have all day to do something, I take a bit longer. There’s nothing pushing me to finish. Whereas, if I only had 45 minutes a day to write and that was it, I would make sure I was super productive during that window.

I know very few writers who can sit for 4-5 hours and produce work that is of an extremely high calibre. I’ve done it a few times, but it’s not my normal.

I wrote most of the first and second drafts of my novel in 25 minute stretches before or after work. It took a long time, but that’s how I got it done. Now that I have a little more time to write, I’ll do an hour if I’m really busy with drafting or editing, but it’s not a whole lot more than that. I’ll sometimes do 5 hour sessions but again, it’s not my normal.

How to start making use of the extra time in your day to write:

Usually when I tell people that writing 25 minutes a day is enough to eventually finish a novel, they laugh.

“25 minutes isn’t much,” they say. “I probably won’t get far.”

So they do nothing, preferring to wait until they have more time.

But of course, ‘more time’ is an illusion. So they continue to do nothing the next day. And the next day. Eventually, all of this adds up to…nothing.

I get it. Sometimes it takes me 25 minutes to write a sentence.

But today, I’m challenging you to flip this. What if instead of thinking that 25 minutes isn’t enough time, you were to say “25 minutes to write? Great! It’s better than nothing.”

This puts you in a different frame of mind. All of a sudden you’re in a place of believing you can do this. Maybe you’ll write one sentence. Maybe you’ll write one paragraph. Maybe you’ll write one plot point.

Whatever you write, it’s still one more thing than you had yesterday.

Then (and this is the really important part), if you can get into the habit of being consistent, one sentence becomes one paragraph, which becomes one chapter, which will eventually become one novel.

Yes, it’ll take you a couple of months. Maybe a year. But you’ll do it.

Those luxurious hours of free time? They’re never going to show up.

Take the tiny moments of calm and start writing.