IT MIGHT have taken some time for you to be confident saying it, but you are a writer. Emerging, yes, but a writer. Writing is an essential part of your life. You work hard at your craft; you care deeply about your writing; it’s when you’re writing that you feel most fully like yourself. But in addition to being a writer, you are also a person living in the world. You have to navigate a job or take care of others or manage your bills—or all of the above. You dream of having your own time, even if just for a little while, to focus solely on your writing at a retreat or conference, to think, work, and connect with other writers. You imagine, maybe later, when you have a book out and some more recognition of your work, you may be able to make it all happen. But how do you find the time and quiet, between a hungry child, a demanding boss, and an ever-growing to-do list, to write that debut in the first place? Here is what emerging and once-emerging but now established writers have to say about how they were able to claim that time for themselves.
First, it may help to know that if you are having a hard time thinking of how to carve out the time or money, you are not alone. When you see a fellow writer’s
