Wise writing advice and inspiration that any writer can use from USA Today bestselling author, Jeff Gunhus.

Time To Write

I have a friend that used to introduce me as “the guy with the writing problem.” I guess the label is appropriate. I’ve published 14 novels in the last eight years and written three or four more that are wandering around my office someplace waiting to be revisited. But writing is not my full-time gig. I’m a father of five, a husband, a soccer coach and the CEO of a national home improvement company with a few hundred employees. I am an avid outdoorsperson, loving to fish, hunt, hike, kayak, paddle board boat, etc. I watch what I eat, try to exercise, and get pretty good sleep. I also have more faults than the average person — I can be an organizational disaster, I’m overly competitive, and I probably expect/demand too much out of people.

I only share the above because I often meet people who said they would like to write novels but that they simply don’t have the time. And it’s not just novels, but any creative endeavor. Painting, sculpture, creating a nonprofit organization. You name it. I never really say anything when people mention this to me, I just nod my head as if I sympathetically agree. 

But, as you can imagine, I don’t at all.

I believe the challenge is for us to connect with that passions which are vital in our lives and place it on the same level of the other things that nourish and sustain us. 

We’ve all been given exactly the same amount of time each day. How we choose to spend that time is the great mystery of our own lives. I have zero judgement of somebody’s decision of how they want to spend their days. If stacking BBs in a corner makes them happy then so be it. The challenge I have is that people who feel as if they are unfulfilled because they “don’t have time“ to do something, when they actually do. 

There is always time. 

You would never say to yourself I just didn’t eat for five days because I didn’t have time .

I believe the challenge is for us to connect with that passions which are vital in our lives and place it on the same level of the other things that nourish and sustain us. 

If you have a passion for writing, then just get up 30 minutes earlier each day and make it a consistent priority just like eating. Once you do it for 30 days, you will have a habit that makes it harder for you to skip it than it is for you to do it. All of my books have been written between 5:00 AM and 8:00 AM, With some weekends thrown in during the editing phase or on a deadline. And I’m not some super disciplined metahuman. I’m pretty bad at most things, I’m just consistent that I always show up and put the time in. 

Even if you only wrote one page a day, you would be able to knockout the first draft of a novel in a year. Just a page a day. Consistently show up. 

That’s the trick. The only trick there is. 

Show up. Be consistent. Do the work. You have the time as long as you make it a priority 

For more information about Jeff Gunhus and his latest novella, Caroline & Mordecai the Gand, read my earlier post Book Review + Giveaway: Caroline & Mordecai the Gand.