by A.C. Williams @ACW_Author

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2025 and join me in the sheer astonishment that it’s already been 25 years since we survived Y2K.

The passage of time is something we all tend to ignore when we’re younger. There’s something about being under 20 that makes you feel like you have all the time in the world. Conversely, something about passing 40 makes you realize how rapidly your time is slipping through your fingers.

Time is not a renewable resource. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. And every person on earth is given a specific number of minutes and seconds to live. Only God knows how many each of us have. That’s not for us to know. Our job is to make the most of however many minutes we have.

So as an author, how do you use your time wisely? How do you leverage the time that you have to make progress on your writing projects? And what happens when you have so little time to invest that it doesn’t even feel worth it?

Time isn’t unlimited, but neither is your creativity. Well, let me rephrase that. Your ability to imagine and create is unlimited, but your mind’s capacity to process your imagination has limits. Your body needs care. And if you aren’t taking care of yourself, your creativity will tank, and so will your creativity-based career.

So, let’s talk about some strategies to maintain our creativity when we don’t always have the time to create.

You have time for what you have time for.

This has to be said. Many of us will lament how little time we have while we are scrolling on our smartphones or watching funny cat videos on YouTube. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love funny cat videos, but if that is what is absorbing my time, it’s not that I don’t have time. It’s that I’m using the time I have unwisely.

Now, some authors legitimately have limited amounts of time available to work on our writing. Some of us are parents or caregivers, and the time we used to use for our creativity is being taken up by other priorities. But in those cases, you can still make space for your writing. You just have to do it, because space for your writing won’t create itself.

If you don’t have time, make time. And if you can’t make time? Well, maybe this is a season where your writing needs to take a back seat. But more on that later.

Don’t neglect meals and stretch breaks.

Obviously prioritizing is the most important element of time management. But it’s even more important to make sure you are valuing your physical health. (And, yes, I’m preaching to the choir on this one.) Our brains are all wired differently, so we can each focus on different things for different lengths of time. But don’t underestimate how damaging it is to your body for you to sit in one place for hours and hours without moving.

It will wreck your posture, for one. All sorts of other physical ailments are tied to a sedentary lifestyle, not to mention your mental and emotional health. Spend 8 to 10 hours staring at a computer screen without a break and see how you feel.

Part of being a good steward of the story God has given you is being a good steward of your body and your mind and your health. Be reasonable. Keep it simple. But make sure you’re eating. Make sure you are moving. Your mind and your body will thank you.

Block off time to create and protect it.

Intentionally set aside time to write. Make it as regular and recurring as possible, and make sure to get your family and friends to support it. You can’t do this without their help. And once you have space to write, write. Don’t use it to surf the web. Don’t spend it on your phone.

Put your backside in a chair, and get some words on the page. Don’t worry about what they sound like. Don’t worry about what they look like. Just do it. You can’t edit a blank page.

Life is a series of seasons.

If you’ve tried all of that, and you still can’t make words happen, maybe it’s time to take a step back.

If you can’t make writing a priority in your life right now, that doesn’t make you a failure. It doesn’t mean you aren’t a writer. It just means that you’re in a season of life that is requiring more from you than you have to give. Eventually this season will pass, and you will be able to come back to your writing.

In your season of waiting to write, keep a notebook with you. Make notes. Scribble thoughts and questions. When you watch a show or read a book, analyze it and evaluate it. Keep your brain sharp. And when the seasons change again (they always change, my friend), you’ll be ready to jump back into writing with a fresh perspective and a well-rested mind.

A.C. Williams is a coffee-drinking, sushi-eating, story-telling nerd who loves cats, country living, and all things Japanese. Author of more than 20 books, she keeps her fiction readers laughing with wildly imaginative adventures about samurai superheroes, clumsy church secretaries, and goofy malfunctioning androids; her non-fiction readers just laugh at her and the hysterical life experiences she’s survived. If that’s your cup of tea (or coffee), join the fun at www.amycwilliams.com.