A writer needs to write every single day. They all do it, from first timers to old hands. But writers are only human and when a young family is involved, it can cause huge disruption, not just to normal life but to your writing life too.  And children have no respect for deadlines, or for daily targets. Sleep deprivation, piles of washing, constant running around, it all gets in the way but there are five things that you as a writing parent can do to keep your brain turning to baby mush.

Build Up Your Story’s Structure

Even with young children, the constant state of exhaustion and panic doesn’t last forever. At some time, you will be able to start writing again but, until that time, start planning. You have ideas in your head, write them down. The words may not be fully flowing yet but it doesn’t matter. Every time you think of an idea, jot it down; it will all come together at some point.

Write When Your Children Sleep

I know, you’ve been told to sleep when your baby sleeps but that isn’t always possible. And sometimes you will have the ideas in your head and you need to get them down on paper. Write when you can grab a few minutes – few and far between at times but sometimes you may even need to say that you are going to write for an hour even if other things slide for a while. Don’t even feel too guilty if the dinner doesn’t get cooked – that’s what takeaways are for!

Go Back To Work In Progress or Old Work

Sometimes, when you’ve had late or sleepless nights, the pressure of creative thinking can become too much. Tiredness overtakes your brain and there isn’t a single original thought popping out. Instead of trying to work on a new manuscript, get some old stuff out and look through it. This could be work that you started and never finished; you might even see how to finish it if you are lucky. For some writers, sleep deprivation can make them bad writers on new work but excellent editors on old stuff.

Listen to an Audiobook

Sometimes, you will be on the go all day and that isn’t always conducive to writing. Keep your brain going by plugging in an audiobook and listen while you get on with everything that has to be done. Some books even sound better as an audiobook than they do when you read them.

Use a Voice Recognition App

You can use one of these to dictate ideas while you are doing other things. You won't look mad talking into a phone, everyone does it these days. You can use it to brainstorm, to flesh out a character, to work out a direction for a plot and more.

It doesn’t matter how much or how little you manage to achieve; some days, achieving five minutes will be a big thing in itself. What’s important is that you keep your brain ticking over while you juggle family life and all the millions of things that need to be done and that you achieve something.