Why is it hard to find the time....?

I've had a really hectic time of things with my day job recently, and this has got me thinking just how easy it is to allow ourselves to stop doing the things we really love. You know, those ones we look as a bit of time just for us, when we relax and unwind, and I have realised that my writing seems to come under this category for me. Now, my writing is actually a valuable part of my income, and I spend as much time working on building a network of fans for it as I do for my work as a therapist - yet I still see the actual writing part as my hobby.

I wanted to try and work out why this was the case for me, and probably for many writers out there - who are making money from their writing yet still prioritise other aspects of their lives as having more importance. I started by looking at what I get from writing, what I need to do to write successfully, and when I have been most successful at doing so and getting a finished article/book/blog post (or whatever I want to get written).

Firstly I realised that I get utterly immersed when I write. I am not someone who can sit down and just write for an hour or so, and feel that I have managed to get something created that has any value. I like to utterly lose myself in the characters lives, and just let them write their own stories - I simply can't do this if I am snatching a few 100 words here or there.So, for me writing is very time-consuming. I need to know that I have two or 3 days straight (often working through the night) to just get the story out there, get it onto the page and then I can use the odd hour here or there to edit it, and fine tune it over a number of months, but the actual initial push needs dedicated time with no distractions.

I get a huge amount of release from writing, it is a cathartic process for me. I often write about characters that have similar problems or hangs ups to me, or have had similar upbringings, or things happen in their lives. This can obviously mean that often it can be quite difficult for me emotionally, as I am working through my stuff alongside my characters working it out too. I also get a huge sense of pride and achievement when I complete a story.  The other thing I get is a lot of love. It sounds crazy but many of my characters are like family to me, and by giving them my undivided attention I feel that they give me the privilege of seeing everything about their lives, and they give me a great story line.

I realised that my most productive patch to date was one in which I had very few clients in the day job, was working through a lot of things to do with where and what I wanted my life to be, and how I was going to achieve it. Recently however my life has been very highly focussed on building my business, and helping others - there simply hasn't been the time for me, or my characters. So, the lesson I have learned is that I either need to change the way I write (which I don't want to do) or I need to find the time to write. That said I am going for the latter. I am going to try and book myself a two or 3 day holiday from my business every month so I can work on my writing.

So, what is holding you back, and how can you make a change so you continue to get pleasure from your hobbies that make you money, whilst maintaining a normal job/life/family etc?

Huge apologies to everyone for my long absence. I have been really busy at the day job, trying to re-establish my therapy business following my departure from raography training. It has been really interesting and I have learnt a huge amount about myself, and about how to market myself better, and the power of social media and blogging when doing this.

I have realised just how little effort I have put in over the years to marketing myself either as a therapist, or as a writer, and so understandably I haven't achieved the huge heights of success that I have dreamed of. I promise, that I am more determined than ever to ensure that I don't blow it this time. It is incredible how much work needs to be done to ensure that your name gets out there, to ensure people realise you written a book - let alone to convince them to buy it!

And then you realise that you could have been saving yourself so much time if you had just put as much effort into the marketing as you did into learning your skills - whatever they may be. I am realising that shortcuts such as HootSuite,  having a VA to answer calls, and using online databases to find interesting, useful blog/twitter/facebook posts (that are hopefully easy and enjoyable to read too) can make it all so much simpler. But I still like to make sure I keep the odd personal element in there, such as writing this, or personal DM messages to say thanks when someone follows me.

I'm getting there, and I promise I will try and get back here later in the week - I've been discovering VLogs too - you never know maybe I'll do one of those for you all too!

Oh, and Anna and Jim are slowly getting there - Jim is such an adorable man, but he is downright scary when he's angry - I didn't know that until this week!