It can be hard finding the time to write. If you manage to battle through the procrastination, the existential crisis’s, the anxiety, the crippling self-doubt – you then have to deal with real life as well. Toddlers who demand your attention every waking minute of the day, a dog that needs walked, chores that need doing, a full-time job that you unfortunately have to do so you can earn actual money to buy actual things…the list never ends. Oh, and then you have the bright idea to also sign up to do a mental health qualification, because clearly, you’ve decided you don’t have enough on your plate.

Yup, un-interrupted writing time is like gold dust in my house. Which is why at the weekend, I kicked my husband and toddler out of the house for the morning. And oh my, it was bliss.

This was my set-up – my outline spreadsheet, my manuscript, my handwritten notes, a cup of tea and a mug cake (except the recipe I used was far too big for any mugs we had, so I used a bowl instead. Yes, I ate the whole thing. No, I don’t have any regrets).

It was great – for the first time in so long, I felt like me again. Although I didn’t write anywhere near as much as I thought I would, at least I wrote something – so when I finally get the chance to open my manuscript again, it’ll be a hell of a lot better than just staring at an empty page.

So when will I get to do this again? Well, strangely enough the husband wasn’t too keen when I suggested he buggered off every Saturday morning, but I am going to make it a priority to have at least a couple of un-interrupted writing hours at the weekends. Plus, I’ve been powering through my mental health course this week – once that finishes, I can go back to writing in the evenings again, hooray! Honestly, I love learning about children’s mental health so it’ll be worth it in the end – I just have an annoying habit of always wanting to work on whatever I can’t devote time to. Plus, I made myself a promise at the beginning of the year that I’m going to take my writing seriously this year, so I’m anxious to get back to it.

What’s your writing set-up like? How do you juggle 1000 different things so you MAKE time to write/for yourself?

Z x