Carving out time …

… is a challenge, isn’t it?

Carving out time for ourselves as writers, I mean.

We certainly need to do so, but do we feel as if we deserve it? If God has given us the gift of writing, surely the answer is that this is a good use of our time. We may know this in our heads, but do we receive that truth in our hearts?

There are so many things that can get in the way. I work full-time, which puts immediate limits on my time and capacity. I’m also a lay minister, a voluntary role which I love but with demands, eg I preach twice a month and help to to lead worship most Sundays.

Although my parents died some years ago, other people also have legitimate demands on my time and energy. I’m single, so don’t have any dependents, but singleness doesn’t seem to create magic swathes of time either, although I realise I have more freedom than others. It’s relatively easy for me to book a Quiet Day, jump in my car and head off to my favourite retreat centre.

So what do YOU do, to preserve your precious writing time and make the most of it?

- Do you carve out time for morning pages, following the advice of Julia Cameron, author of bestseller The Writer’s Way? I find this a really helpful exercise.

- Do you have a writing study? Or have you created a writing space of your own, if your accommodation doesn’t have a designated study room?

- Do you have a special writing desk?

- What about writing warm-up exercises?

- Do you write to music? Music can create or influence the atmosphere you are aiming for and be an inspiration in itself.

What about writing retreats and courses? There are so many around now, including online ones, and ACW writers have been organising their own, eg Kingdom Story Writers and Out of the Box retreats (both advertised through the ACW Facebook page), or running retreats in other parts of the UK.

Whatever it takes, whatever you are able to do to resource yourself as a writer and gain new inspiration, knowledge and expertise … take time out for yourself, in 2025, and ask God to bless the endeavour.


… because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’ Mark 6: 31, NIV

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2: 10, NIV

I work for the United Reformed Church at URC Church House in London. I’m also an Anglican lay minister. I wrote a devotional for the anthology Light for the Writer’s Soul, published by Media Associates International, and my short story ‘Magnificat’ appears in the ACW anthology Merry Christmas Everyone.