One of the hardest things about writing isn’t the actual writing—it’s finding time to write. Laura Vanderkam asks, “Can You Try Twice Per Week?” on her 168 Hours blog.
Vanderkam cautions against all-or-nothing thinking. As in, I must write every single day or else I’ll give up. I’ve heard time and time again, writers preach on the importance of writing every single day. I always end up feeling defeated. How can I work full-time, accomplish errands, and still find time to write every day? Oh, and I rather like having some sort of social life, so how can I do all that and still have a life? Vanderkam’s approach is refreshing. She advises on making priorities out of the things we want to do but actually being reasonable about it. She suggests that, given the 168 hours we have during the week, we can probably find two days during the work week to devote to that priority.
One way to find extra time, she says, is to wake up early. Ugh. Not what I wanted to hear. I’m not a morning person. But the truth is, by the time I’ve run from work to class to dinner, the last thing I want to do is write at the end of the night. I haven’t tried waking up early to write, but I may give it a shot.
I first heard Vanderkam speak at MediaBistro’s book club and then went on to read her book, 168 Hours: You Have More Time than You Think. I’d highly recommend it to … well, everyone. I hear so many people say they don’t have time for writing or for spending time with their family or for whatever it is they want to do, and this book shows that we actually do have time for a lot of what we want to do – we just have to respect the time we’re given and get the most out of it.
Can you wake up early twice a week to work on your writing?
Stephanie Nikolopoulos 
That is a very good question. Am not a writer, but I guess that question is valid for anybody wanting to do something creative.
I should give the ‘wake up early’ advice a try, and I do admire anybody managing to do it (The early bird catches the worm), but I am not sure it’s for me either.
Some good advice about all of this can be found at Zen Habits too.
J
I’ll have to check out Zen Habits. I’m not a morning person myself and find even when I wake up early I don’t really function at my best writing ability. I’ve found my lunch break is a good time to write.
Time is our most precious gift and actually is as much of a commodity as money. Think of it — we get to spend time and waste time, just like we do with our cash and cash reserves. The only difference is you can’t really ever save time .. there’s no rolling it over into tomorrow so time must be spent or else it’s lost. When I stopped smoking I gained more time each day … then I started smoking again … but have never let it eat away at my time allotment as before stopping the first time.
I’ve heard the same thing about sleep — that we can’t really save it up or catch up on it.