I don’t have time to write.

This is probably the most common reason I hear from people why they don’t write, in spite of their professed desire to be a writer and/or to get published.


“I am going to write a book one day,” they’ll say. “But I just don’t have the time right now.”


Tosh! If you are reading this blog post, you have the time to write. In the couple of minutes it has taken you to click on a link, open this post and read it, you could have written a paragraph. In the ten minutes you took on Facebook/Twitter/whatever other social networking site last hour, you could have written two paragraphs. In the hour you sat in front of the tv last night, two pages. And so on.


Now before you throw rotten tomatoes at me, I am not for one moment suggesting any one of those things is a waste of time (I surf blogs, facebook, twitter and watch TV every day). What I am saying is that if you really want to write, you will find some time to devote to it.


It might not be the uninterrupted days of writing you dream of – but even five minutes snatched here and there can add up.


I don’t know a single writer who has as much time to write as they would like. Many published authors (including myself) still need to work day jobs to survive financially, or have family responsibilities. Even those who do not have other commitments generally have writing related commitments which take them away from their writing – speaking engagements, promotions and so on. But they make time to write.

So, what are you waiting for? You want to be a writer? Write.