I completely failed at getting any writing done this weekend. My family and I went on a short road trip to see my Grandfather. I took my laptop and audio gear with me, but I didn’t do a blessed thing until the last day.

I intended to do some writing, I just didn’t plan too.

I’m one of the chronically disorganized, if I hadn’t had the good fortune to be living with a grown up I would never get anything done at all. I tend to only do things at the last moment or, and this is the thrust of this post, if I carve out a little time just for writing. This weekend I intended to write ‘when I had the chance’ and of course that chance was taken up by eating, driving, napping and listening to my relatives tell stories.

A good time was had, but my book is no closer to completion and as such I am no closer to getting published.

Under normal circumstances I write when I get home from work, I get a couple of clear hours to just tap out whatever I like. It’s become such a routine that I don’t even set it in my diary anymore (yes, I have a diary), but when that routine was interrupted by travel I didn’t plan anything else.

The only reason I’m writing this now is I had planned to start writing several posts each weekend to give me more fiction writing time during the week.

A few people I know, generally those with a lot of free time, can write whenever the mood takes them. If you have a job, or kids, or any kind of regular life rally, you’re going to have to plan. Carve out a little time. It doesn’t have to be hours, but the more time you can spare the better. Everyone has commitments, but if you want to do the writing thing for money you have to treat it the same way you treat any job.  Imagine your boss has a loaded weapon and if you don’t show up on time to write you’re going to get more than a written warning.

I’m not saying you’ll never get your book done if you don’t plan your writing time, but I guarantee it’s going to take longer. My father is a published author, and when he wrote books he locked himself away for weeks at a time. Dad went into a weird sort of writing trance, coming out for dinner and coffee upon occasion. You don’t need to do this, I don’t, and only  a very few people outside of professional writers will have the time. Even if you can only take a half hour a day to write, if you do that every day even the slowest author will have a book at the end of the year.

Plan, write, remember to eat. I’ll be back later in the week with a book review and some more thoughts on the work/life balance.