A Time and a Place

In mid-month I wrote about the extreme unlikelihood of any writer being able to make a living at this craft. Now I want to explore some strategies for managing a part-time writing career, managing it in such a way as to allow you to make a decent living at something else—anything else, really—while still being productive as a writer.

The ideas that follow come out of a panel I moderated at When Words Collide 2018 in Calgary, featuring Carrie Mumford, Tyler Hellard and Matt Singleton. We talked tactics and strategies for an hour, so the suggestions I'm going to write here will almost certainly take up more than one post. But hey, at least this will give you something to look at besides Dixie's Land...


Time Management
When the majority of your time is devoted to paying the rent and purchasing carbon-based edibles, you have to be very determined about carving out time for writing. And the most important aspect of time management is consistency. You want to be serious about writing? Then you ensure that nothing pulls you away from that work during the time you devote to it. For some, writing time means waking a couple of hours early and working on the manuscript until it's time to switch to the day-job. For others, writing time is a half-day on the weekend. Every weekend.

It doesn't matter when your set time is. What matters is that nothing is allowed to pull you away from it. Family and friends have to be told (gently, gently) that this period is inviolate. And you have to hold yourself to it. If you don't take this seriously, why should anybody else?

A Room of One's Own
All respect to Ms Woolf, but while a dedicated writing room is a lovesome thing (and I've been fortunate enough to have one for most of my writing life) it is not necessary. What is necessary is some sort of space in which a project can be worked on during every time period you have set aside. For some people this is the dining room table; for some it's a dedicated desk in a bedroom.

I used to think that writing in coffee shops was a cliche, and a weak one at that. But a number of writers of my acquaintance do most of their work in coffee shops—in one case, in a bar. It helps, here, if you have a good relationship with the management of the space, and are able to avoid the distractions created by all those other people who seem to demand watching. But I'm pleased to know it can be done, and with success.

Again, I think consistency is the rule here. Whatever space works for you, go to it every time you've set aside for writing. You can get a lot done as a part-time writer, if you're prepared to be devoted to the craft and to the work.

And it is work. If you're entertaining romantic thoughts about how wonderful it is to be a writer, you should have stopped reading this several paragraphs ago. Writers work. They write. And that takes discipline and it takes organization.

Next: more suggestions, and troubleshooting tips.