Time Is More Valuable to Writers than Money

For some writers, finishing their rough draft can sometimes take them more two years. Two years?! That’s a long time, isn’t it? It’s not because we aren’t talented writers, and it’s not because we don’t want to finish writing our books. For most authors, it takes us a long time to finish our books because we simply can’t sacrifice time away from our jobs, family, or other social/professional/community obligations. That makes the way we manage our time the most priceless commodity we have at our fingertips.

What can you easily sacrifice?

• Do you watch a lot of television or movies?
• Do you waste hours every day on social media?
• When the phone rings, how long do you talk on the phone?
• Do you allow yourself time to work on the things that matter to you?
• Do you like to sleep in?
• Are you trying to build a side hustle to make more money?

And these are only six areas of your life that might be sucking time away from your dream of becoming a writer. Trust me, there are many more where those came from. They all require us to weigh our leisure time against the importance of our future success as a published author.

If you think of every second you spend on whatever activity you’re engaged in, how many of those activities are really investing in your future? I’m not saying that you should become a robot, neglect your family, and turn your back on your friends. But … think about where you could be one year from now if you were able to sacrifice only one hour of those activities to pursue your writing dream. You could easily write your first book within a year.

Think about it: if you could write even 500 words in that hour, you could write a total of two novels within the space of a year. That’s a far cry from where you are right now—if you haven’t started writing that book you’ve always wanted to write.

Can you be flexible with your writing habits?

There isn’t only one way to write. Other authors get their writing in with various tools:

• pen (or pencil) to paper
• typewriter
• laptop computer