Everyone has a book in them.

One of my favourite cartoons about writing is of a man being x-rayed to reveal a book in his chest. Part of the caption reads “You’ve got a book in you.” I like this idea – that we all have a book in us, and to an extent it’s true, everyone has a tale to tell. But writing a novel or a series of short stories, takes drive. You’ve got to want to tell the story/stories.

When people find out I’ve written a few books, the most common question I get asked is about how I find the time. Not how I get my ideas. Not what difficulties I face as a writer. Not what my favourite of my stories is. Not even a simple query about what genre of stories I write.

Time.

Time is probably the biggest factor in whether a book gets written. Writing is hard. It’s frustrating. It’s consuming. It’s brilliant. It’s uplifting, but definitely hard and definitely worthwhile. So how do you find the time? For me it comes down to motivation. When I’m motivated by the story I’m writing I don’t have to find time, it just seems to get found.

Many of my stories aim to teach a concept/idea to the reader. That is my drive, my motivation to write. When I come across or think of an interesting idea/concept I put it in a story. While this helps me remember the idea, it also achieves something I seek to do in my day job as a teacher – share interesting science and concepts with a wider audience.

Most mornings my daughter holds my hand as we walk to her childcare. Frequently, this will make me think of the image of a parent and their child walking together in such a manner. The photo is taken from behind, but it’s clear the child is looking up to the parent. The caption is “I thought about giving up, but then I saw who was watching.”

I couldn’t find this image in a quick search but did find a similar stock image to what I’m describing.

What I find interesting about the regularity of having such thoughts is what it reveals about how I feel about writing. It’s clearly something I find challenging and at times hard to pursue, but also worth doing given the outcome. I guess it boils down to pragmatism – the end justifies the means.

I like the thought that my kids (when they’re old enough) and potential future grandchildren (fingers crossed) will be able to read my stories and get a good indication of what interests me. The idea that my story will be a legacy for them can help me find motivation when it’s lacking.

Writing is also the one activity which always improves my state of mind, despite the frustration and angst that can come from trying to write a story. It seems to act like meditation for me. I escape to the world I’m creating and have my little mental break from reality. As such I’m often most productive with my writing when I’m busiest at work and just need to forget about the ‘magic pudding’ pile of marking which is every teacher’s burden.

So if you have a gnawing desire to write a book, work out why you want to tell the story and use that as motivation to find a little bit of time each day to write. Set achievable goals* such as two hundred to two hundred and fifty words a day  on weekdays (roughly 15-20 minutes writing) and give yourself the weekend off. You’ll write over a thousand words a week and over the course of a year that’s a draft of a novel. You can be one year older still wishing you could find the time, or with fifteen minutes a day be one year older having written a book. I know which I’d rather be.

*November is NaNoWriMo (National Write a Novel in a Month). This sets a target of writing 1750 words a day (50,000 words in the month of November). For me that would represent three to four hours writing per day, which is not a realistic goal.