Despite the importance of writing/work/life balance for writers, I haven’t written about this topic before because it had never been an issue for me.

I’m very blessed in that my husband earns enough at his job that I can stay home to write. I babysit as a way to bring in some extra money, but lately it has gone from a small part of my week to a half-time job. I love having all of these extra babysitting jobs. I get to hang out with so many wonderful kids each week and the extra money is helping me to pay off my student loans. But now I’m discovering just how hard it is to write when you have a job.

When I first started these extra jobs this fall, I still tried to do my normal amount of writing work each week. All that did was make me feel like a failure when I simply didn’t have enough time to get all of my reading and writing done each week. Feeling discouraged, I’d try harder to get everything done the next week, only to feel worse when I once again couldn’t meet my goals.

Things got worse and worse over the months, even though I actually started writing my book. But in November—thanks to being around fifteen different kids each week and their germs, and in addition to all of the writing stress I had put on myself—I got back-to-back colds and had to force myself to stop and evaluate.

Once I stepped away for two weeks, I could see the answer clearly: I was simply trying to do too much. I talked through it with my husband about all the things that were important to me to keep doing (the babysitting, the actual writing, reading fiction, blogging) and things that maybe I could step back on (reading writing craft books (at least in their entirety), some social media).

So as this year ends and a new one begins, I’m definitely going to be trying some different things with my schedule. It’s important to always be evaluating and iterating your writing process so that you can make the most of your time and do your best work.

Making more adjustments to my writing schedule—and focusing more of my time on the actual writing as opposed to all of the extras—will help me to find more balance between my babysitting work, my writing, and my life in general.

For a great resource on work/writing/life balance, I would recommend you check out Sarah Werner’s The Write Now Podcast. I always feel refreshed after listening to her show and ready to get to work!

If you’re a writer, how do you go about scheduling your time? Have you found a writing/work/life balance that works for you?