Jo Linsdell is the author and illustrator of the rhyming children’s picture book OUT AND ABOUT AT THE ZOO. Find out more about her at www.JoLinsdell.com

Finding the time is one of the most difficult aspects of being a writer.

Only got 10 minutes to spare? Brainstorm some new ideas, speed write the next scene of your novel or write a blog post. You’d be surprised at how much you can accomplish in such a short amount of time.

As a mum to a 4 year old and a 9 month old my days are pretty full. I’ve learnt to make the most of any time I get to work on my writing and marketing efforts. I get most done late morning when my eldest is at preschool. If I’m lucky my youngest will take a nap and give me a window of time to concentrate on articles for clients or writing blog posts.

I often have my computer turned on so I can hop on and off throughout the day. This is when I tend to work on my marketing and building my online presence. In just a couple of minutes I can search for a few useful links to share with my followers, share some of my recent blog posts on twitter, post an update on Facebook, comment on one of my LinkedIn groups, etc…

Once I get the kids to bed (usually around 9pm) I have the evening to work on my bigger projects. this could mean anything from increasing my word count on my work in progress to editing and formatting or working on illustrations for my children’s books. The stuff I need to be able to sit down and concentrate on.

In order to keep my projects organised and not have to waste time during the day, I write a to-do list at night before going to bed. Sometimes this is just a few must-do tasks for the next day. Other times it’s a more detailed list breaking down bigger tasks into bite-size chunks. My list helps me focus on what needs to be done and allows me to quickly see what I can do in the short amounts of time I get.

Finding the time isn’t easy but if you really want to succeed in being a writer you need to be able to make the most of opportunities as they arise.