Writing With a Baby: It Can Be Done

silver timer

I’ll make this short—I don’t have much time.

It’s 3:12AM and my wife is feeding our ten-week old daughter. In a few minutes she’ll burp up some milk and I’ll have to stop writing to make sure she doesn’t choke and die.

When a life hangs in the balance, trying to find time to write is the furthest thing from your mind. But you can still write as much as you did (and more) with one simple tip.

The Good ‘Ol Days

Before the baby, I used to have a two-hour block set aside each morning to do one thing: write. Like any good writer, I’d spend most of it checking email, browsing baseball scores, and procrastinating.

Back then, I had that luxury.

Nowadays, it’s all changed. There is diaper duty, burping duty, play duty, and good old regular doody. There’s enough stuff to fill your days and never get any writing done.

But believe it or not, I’m writing as much now as I was before the baby. Want to know my secret?

No more ****ing around.

I have become a ruthless manager of time, and it’s paying off. These days I write in 10-15 minute increments or whenever the Princess of Poop allows me to take leave, which isn’t often.

When you have a baby, you either become an efficient writer or you stop being a writer altogether.

The Tip

If you aren’t willing to have a baby to learn this lesson (where is your dedication to the craft?), simulate it by using a timer.

Set it to 20 minutes and tell yourself that’s all you have. Pretend there’s a sleeping baby in the room and in 20 minutes it’s going to demand your attention. Hurry up—you only have 20 minutes! No matter how much more you have to say or how badly you want to keep going—you’re done.

You’ve probably heard of this tip before—lots of writers use kitchen timers to write more effectively. But I’m stubborn and never thought it would help me, so I never tried it.

I was very stubborn:

I’m better than that. Using a timer to make me more efficient? That’s silly—only amateurs need to do that.

Maybe you can come up with a better excuse not to try this or any other writing exercise. Good for you—way to talk your way out of becoming a better writer.

Me? I learned the hard way—I don’t have the luxury of setting the timer whenever I want. I have to be ready to write at the drop of a hat.

Here’s a solid piece of advice for you baby-less writers out there: just do the freaking exercise. Here is a link to a timer—just go and do it already and you’ll see how much it can help.

One More Thing

The timer method isn’t the only strategy I’m using these days to get my writing done.

Nowadays, I’m always writing.

When I’m on the train to work, I’m writing. When I’m in the shower, I’m writing. When I’m changing a poopy diaper or shushing the baby, I’m writing.

Every waking moment is spent mentally preparing myself for those 15 minutes so that when I finally get in front of the keyboard, I don’t start with a blank screen—I start with a whole bunch of ideas I’ve though through in my head.

Then I just write—editing will come later.

Time is up—time to go save my daughter’s life…again.

Image by wwarby

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