Great suggestions, thank you. I’ll keep an eye out for that blog post for sure. Let me know if you need any raw timesheet data from a novelist/teacher with two school-age kids!

I find myself in this position as well. Teacher day job 7:30-4:00. I run an independent editing business on he side, but would like to spend more time writing as well. Short stories not novels. (Hats off to those who can write 50k+ words!) I have been doing a time study for awhile, and plan on participating more formally on this upcoming week. I am curious to your thoughts on this as well.

btw- I’m hoping to do a blog post on this coming out of some other reader makeovers that are in the works.

@Emily- that’s a good question, when to do any sort of sideline or creative work when you have a 9-5 type job (or 8-4 or whatever). I have seen a few things work. One is to build it in as part of the morning routine. Particularly people who start work later find that this amounts to paying themselves first. If you don’t have to be at work until 9, you can do a lot between 6-8 a.m. four days per week. If that doesn’t work (and it doesn’t for many people because they work early or they have young kids who are up at the crack of dawn) another good option for people is to carve out two blocks. One evening a week you get a sitter or get your partner to cover, or if you don’t have kids you clear the calendar and find a good spot to work and go for it. And then one weekend spot, with the same strategy. 6:30-10:30 a.m. Saturday morning can be good for many people too — many households aren’t doing much of importance before then. Assigning two longer slots means you get the benefit of long, focused hours (good for fiction!) but choosing two days means you can let yourself relax the other 5. It’s not always something you feel guilty about not doing, because there’s a time for it, and now is not that time.

@Laureen – thank YOU! I appreciate your letting me include your story. It will definitely be helpful to others.