Instititute of Children's Literature

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Christina Kauffman quit her banking job to stay home full time with her six month old daughter. She also keeps busy being a police officers wife. She has been writing stories since the age of three but only started the institute in July of 2008. She enjoys reading, watching movies, scrap booking, maintaining a family website, baseball and spending time with her family.

"Budgeting Time for Writing in a Busy Life"

by Christina Kauffman

Most people assume that stay at home mothers to small kids have all the time in the world to sit down and write. After all, their kids take two to three long naps a day and sleep long periods overnight. This gives the mom many opportunities during the day to write.

However, this is not always the case. Unfortunately my six month old daughter does not believe in naps and misses mommy so much during the night that she wakes up six plus times to eat. Most mornings I wake up exhausted with only a broken four hour sleep. And naps? If my daughter does take one, I happen to be hitting the sheets as well. How can I concentrate on writing if I can't even keep my eyes open?

Most people would then assume that there is perhaps a spouse that can take care of the baby in the evening so mom can write. My husband does try to help as much as he can, however as a police officer, he works long, weird hours and not available to help much with our daughter.

This would leave most people in a pickle on deciding how and when to write. The answer is easy---write whenever you can. I keep a notebook in practically every room in the house. I write down ideas, thoughts, paragraphs, character descriptions, full stories in these notebooks. When I am feeding my daughter; give her a mouthful, jot an idea down. When my husband is driving the car; I write in the car. When we go to story time at the local bookshop; I write while I am listening to the story. I write as I wait around for hair appointments, doctor's visits and while my daughter is content in her swing. I write while making dinner, eating lunch and watching tv.

I write whenever I can. I also elicit as much help as I can. When my husband has off, I write. When my mother needs some granddaughter time, I write. In those few precious hours where my daughter is asleep and I am awake, I take all those ideas, thoughts, character descriptions and stories and I perfect them.

I believe it is not how much time you have to write but how driven and focused you are when you do have the time. We all lead busy lives and we all have our "child" how will not sleep. We all have moments where we need a nap instead of writing. If my job all day was to sit at my computer and write, I doubt that I would get as much done. I wouldn't feel as pressed for time or as lucky to have received time to write. I wouldn't be as focused or driven to pump out the next assignment due or the contest entry. I spend a lot of time thinking about stories, thinking about ideas and jotting them down in those notebooks. The organization of my thoughts helps me to spend more time writing the actual piece. The answer to budgeting time to write in a busy life is to write whenever you can. You'll be amazed how much you can accomplish.

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