How Do You Find the Time to Write as a Homeschooling Mom?

by Marji Laine
Have you noticed all of the happy, relieved moms about to get their lives back as their children run off to 7 hours of school each day? I confess; I’ve been secretly jealous before. Recently. Okay, every stinking year about mid-September when volleyball season is at its peak.

School starting for the home-schooler means more structure to the day. Usually more routines. For me, with older kids, it means more running around transporting to service projects, jobs, and sports activities.

See school starting doesn’t aptly describe the life of most homeschooling moms when that first day begins. It more resembles being snatched up by the collar and swung like a lasso.

Who has time to indulge in a passion like writing?

You do. No really. It can be done!

As a writer, I count on being able to immerse myself in my story for hours at a time. Short intervals here and there don’t allow me to really dig into the skin of my characters. So how do I find time to write? I carve it out!

• Assign “anybody can do this” jobs to the kids. (Folding laundry, feeding animals, emptying the dishwasher)
• Plan and prep meals far in advance. (I’m using my crock pot a LOT. Fix it and forget it!)
• While my kids work, I work. Silence is golden!
• I take a piece of work, like a chapter that needs layering or polishing, with me everywhere I go. (Yeah, that’s me at the volleyball scoring table, marking up my document between games!)
• I save the tasks that need focus and concentration for the evening, after dinner, when I can close my door and be in my zone.

Carving out time is harder on some days than others. Today, I scored an hour in a waiting room until a wisdom-tooth patient to emerged. Yesterday, I couldn’t dig out 5 minutes. But when you do utilize your moments here and there for the editing and details, you can save the after dinner/bedtime hours for in-the-zone writing. And that’s where the magic happens!

Your turn: What kind of tricks do you have for carving out time to write?