As I’ve pursued writing over the years I’ve experienced bouts of inspiration and even more bouts of writer’s block. Figuring out how to get inspired is unique to each person, though I’ll share my tactics for that in a later post. But dealing with writer’s block, that’s a beast all by itself.

When I was younger, whenever I had a lull in writing output it was usually due to video games. I’m a gamer, and between video games and game nights with friends, let’s just say I could have written a metric butt ton more in my 20s. That’s not to say I chose poorly with my time allotment, but as someone now wanting to pursue writing more, I can only imagine what could have been.

The reason I think back to that so much is that as a parent, as someone with a job, writing is hard. Jobs require a set number of hours. Family deserves their time as well. Unfortunately once those obligations are met my energy levels are severely depleted. Some people can work with twenty minutes here or there, but to write effectively I need at least an hour, preferably more.

This became more apparent to me as, for the first time in well over a decade, I’m no longer employed. It was a tough hit to my ego, but it opened up many hours each day to write. And the difference between trying to write with a full time job and trying to write as a full time job is like night and day. My writing output has quintupled at the very least, many days I’ll get even more done. This freedom to devote time to my writing has only proven how much more difficult it is to write while employed.

I recently finished a novel writing course where our weekly writing goal was ten double spaced pages. Ten. That’s about a page and a half a day. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but in a graduate class full of working professionals ten was an overwhelming goal for many. Our professor set that goal with decades of writing experience under her belt. Why only ten pages? Writing is hard.

This past spring I had a conversation with an alumni from my masters program, Mindy Mejia. She just put out her fourth book and she spoke on the time it takes to write. Her first book she wrote during her masters program. Her second book she wrote during work lunch breaks. Four years of lunch breaks. This is a published and well received author, and it took four years to write a book, as she was juggling kids and work at the same time.

Writing is hard.

I don’t have a solution to this. I can’t change reality. What I can say to writers out there who are struggling to put pen to paper, to fill up that Word doc, is you’re not alone. Unless your name is Stephen King or J.K. Rowling or Brandon Sanderson you’ve probably got a day job. Pair that with a family and a social life that are all meaningful and important, squeezing that novel or short story into your day is a tall order. But you can do it. You’ve got something to say, and there are people who want to hear it. It’s going to be tough, but you can do it. Write during your lunches, schedule a few hours of uninterrupted time, let your superego reign and convince your id that Great British Baking Show can wait until the end of your chapter. Writing is hard, but you can do it.