Life's a Balancing Act

Sometimes it can be hard to find time to write among all the homework, jobs, friends, family, sports, and everything else in high school life. Here are five tips to help with the balancing act:
  1. Prioritize. Over the summer, I was able to spend my days doing whatever I wanted. When school started again, I had to take a look at my priorities and decide what was most important to me. Sometimes you have to give up things and that's okay.
  2. Schedule. If you're organized, schedule your time. Set aside time for studying and time for writing.
  3. Make time for writing. If you find yourself putting off writing for the next day because you "don't have time," make time. Now you shouldn't be looking at your writing as a chore. If schedule time for writing kills your desire to do it, take some time off and come back with a fresh outlook. I've been scheduling 30 minutes of writing time every night. Even on my busiest days I can still find a quick half hour to write. If that's too much for you, find twenty minutes or even ten. The important thing is to write.
  4. Set a word count goal. If time isn't your thing, make a word count goal. Write 1,000 words every day, even if you have writers' block. If that's too much, go for 500 words or even 250.
  5. Don't be afraid to give up things. If you have to take a blog vacation for a week, it's okay. If you have to cut your Twitter time down to an hour, it's okay. If you have to give up Facebook, it's okay. It's not the end of the world. The important thing is to keep up in school and enjoy your writing.

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