Today's topic is especially appropriate considering my unplanned leave of absence, so turn off the clock and study up on how we can wisely manage the one thing none of us can ever have enough of--time.
I'm sorry, readers. I hope you didn't think I had abandoned you at the veritable zenith of your writing careers and left you to endure this cruel literary world alone. No, I didn't take a sabbatical and forget to drop you a line before packing my bags. The truth is far less glamorous: school has started and I, being a reluctantly dedicated academic, have been forced to adjust to the schedule again. This meant sacrificing writing time for homework and studying and applying for just about every resume-booster this world has to offer. Fortunately for you though, I have vowed to reapply myself to this blog and have selected a rather appropriate topic for today's discussion: time.
Before I take you on this proverbial journey through another dimension of sight, sound, and mind, I must first brag a little. This summer, I volunteered at a local city hospital (volunteer is a strong word: I answered phones and wore a hideous smock), just like I do every summer. And just like every summer, an essay was due at the end of the season--an essay I almost forgot to do. After emailing my supervisor to confirm the essay was due that day, I frantically typed up a scant page of mawkish bullshit about how noble an act my answering phones and eating cookies at a desk was. The essay was done in about ten minutes and shipped off in another five. There, I thought, it's done. When I attended the end-of-summer luncheon, however, I realized I had miscalculated how much of an impact the essay would have. Displayed on a screen above the dessert table was a quote extracted from my essay (you never really know just how terribly sentimental a phrase is until it's on a screen) and after the certificates were handed out, I was summoned to the front once more to receive my award for writing the best essay out of the summer crop of volunteers: a Target gift card (which I promptly spent on gum and a cup patterned with bikes). To say I was shocked was an understatement.
However, this only goes to show just how essential a skill like writing is. If something I had written in ten minutes was good enough to warrant fifteen dollars in Target cash, what literary masterpiece could I fashion if I actually applied myself and spent years meticulously crafting every detail of it?
Time is of the essence though, and we must learn to persevere and write when there is no time to do it. As I mentioned before, these hectic few weeks have allowed little time to actually sit and produce creative excellence. I rarely finish my homework and studying before nine-thirty, and by that time, I just want to scroll through my social media, watch some Netflix, and sleep. It takes some considerable effort to push myself to work on a project or even write a prompt.
Are you facing a similar problem? Don't worry, you are definitely not stolen. When presented with a massive routine shift, it can be extremely difficult to put as much time into your hobbies as it was before. During the summer, I was probably writing for between one and two hours a day (more on days when I didn't have any commitments): during the past three weeks, I have probably only written for a maximum of thirty minutes (not including writing for school). This is a pretty depressing figure, but I'm not defeated, because I know this is simply the result of the shift. As I work to put my schedule together and establish a better system of balancing my commitments with my hobbies, I know that number will start rising.
In the mean time, there are several things you can do to make up for those lost hours. I often have a loose sheet of paper with my work that I can pull out if I finish a test or assignment early. With these precious few minutes, I can work with a short prompt or do some organization for a project. This time, however brief, will start making the intimate time you spend with your work more productive. That scene you need to write? You already plotted it out in the morning. Of course, I'll reiterate the same tips I always throw out: use the Notes app on your phone. Take the time to answer e-mails with well-written sentences. Tell yourself stories on the trip home or while you're making dinner. These tiny creative time-outs do more help than harm.
What about the ten minute essay? Well, when you're pressed for time, you start tapping into creative reservoirs that you didn't even know you had. It may not be exactly what you'd like to say or convey your true feelings, but you will start producing better prose when you don't have the opportunity to go back and second-guess vocabulary and sentence structure (not to say you shouldn't edit). I advocate for timed writing prompts because being under a time restraint coerces you into forgoing extraneous material. And in writing, we're always looking to trim the fat.
Is it a crime to not always put forth your optimum effort? Is it taboo for a writer to not include their unique tone in a piece of work? Not exactly. There will always be a time when you will write something good that is also totally void of your identity--and that's okay. Sometimes, you just need to write something completely impersonal before you can return to polishing the tone that makes your work special. This includes writing the occasional time-crunched piece. Don't make it into a habit, though: a lot of projects demand intimate time for careful writing and deep editing, and you shouldn't deprive them of this just for the hopes of obtaining the ever-allusive Target gift card. Most of the time, it's important to spend some time on your work--it is, after all, your work. You shouldn't deny yourself that.
Time is of the essence, sure, but sometimes it can be a valuable tool. With enough effort, you can fashion most anything into a tool for your metaphorical writing toolkit. So, covet those precious minutes you have to work on something near and dear to your heart, and don't shy away from writing when you don't have those minutes. Either way, write. No person is so busy that they don't have ten minutes to scribble down something on the back of a napkin or add another few hundred words to their latest project. We will never have enough time, so we might as well make the most of the time we have.
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