Something I’ve wrestled with as a writer is this mentality that I need the environment to be just so to get any real writing done. It has to be quiet but not too quiet. I have be writing in a coffee shop–anywhere but a Starbucks. I need to have my favorite drink in hand–a cider or a black, iced coffee (yes, I know…I’m soulless). And I need to have a least an hour to write.

Lately, though, I’m of the mindset that this is kind of ridiculous.

Does being in a specific setting make it easier to focus? Of course! But no one should let the fact that they’re not in a coffee shop with lots of natural lighting, surround by a bunch of lovely and soft-toned queer people, with punk rock music playing softly in the back ground be the reason they’re not writing. Very rarely will people find themselves in their ideal writing environment.

We have to make the time to write where and when we can.

Right now, I’m writing this blog post in the middle of my lunch hour. The other day, I was working on a short story in 10 minute increments as I was doing laundry at Magic Valley Suds. Ten minutes may not seem like a lot of time, but in ten minutes you can write an extra handful of sentences, revisit and edit a paragraph, get part of an outline drafted out.

I was listening to Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal. In the episode “7 Unconventional Insights to Level Up Your Productivity,” writer Matthew Dicks shares a sentiment that there were soldiers who would work on their writing in war zones as bombs were going off around them, so why do we think we need to be in the perfect setting to write? While that’s a touch intense, it’s changed how I approach my writing. 

I still love writing in a coffee shop, sipping on an iced coffee, nibbling on a scone, and typing furiously on my laptop, but I do most of my writing in the morning on my couch a few minutes before I head out to work, in the car on my laptop as I wait for my clothes to finish their spin cycle, during my lunch hour after I’ve just eaten my last bite of chicken. It’s not picturesque, but it’s real.

I’d love to know where/when you find time to write? Let me know in the comments.