Whenever an aspiring writer speaks to me about fiction writing tips, one of the most frequently asked questions is: how do you find the time to write?The answer I want to give, “just do it,” doesn’t quite suffice. So in this article, we’ll examine the matter in a little mo

re detail.We live in a busy world, with numerous demands on our time: jobs, spouses, children, draining work commutes, TV shows we want to watch, emails to read and respond to, phone calls to family and friends. When you look at your daily schedule, it may appear that you simply don’t have time to write.Well, I’ve got both good and bad news for you.The good news: even with a tight schedule, you can still get work done. The bad news? Something in your lifestyle will have to suffer, or change, to accommodate your fiction writing.There are no short cuts, no easy answers. You’ve got to get creative–and motivated.For example, do you get a lunch break at your job? Start taking a notepad with you and using that time–even if it’s only thirty minutes–to work on your stories. Do you commute to work via carpool, bus, or subway? Instead of reading the newspaper or listening to music on your iPod, plug away on your novel.One of the keys to productivity is learning how to identify those pockets of free time during the day, and then using them to your benefit. It’s not as hard as you may think. In fact, when you really examine your daily schedule, you might be astounded at how much you could accomplish.Can you do some fiction writing while your children are playing, eating, or napping? Could you scribble or dictate a few paragraphs while waiting in line somewhere? Zip out some prose as you wait for dinner to cook?And yes, you might even have to give up some things. Do you really have to watch all of those TV shows every week? Do you have to spend hours on social networking web sites, accomplishing nothing in particular?Locate the “fat” in your life, trim it out, and replace it with some fiction writing! Even if all you can manage is just one hour a day, that is something. Do a page an hour and you’ll have a solid draft in 9 – 10 months, which isn’t so bad at all.You can do it. Really. Starting today.