Note from the Editor: The following post is taken from the introduction to Writer’s Time: Management That Works. This program functions with an open enrollment. Registrations are being accepted now. Make time to write your memoir—now!

There’s no denying that writing a memoir takes time—a lot of time. In this program, you will learn strategies for making time to write your memoir—and you probably have more time than you think!

We understand your desire to write a memoir. We’re writers ourselves, and just like you, we have also yearned to preserve our stories in writing.

We know all too well the lament “I don’t have the time,” but we have fortunately come to understand that this perception of lack is often not true. We do have enough time. A writing life of “time enough” is just waiting for us, but we have to claim it.

Without a commitment to make maximum use of your available writing time, you may flounder and find yourself five years from now still “trying to write.”

Your need to write a memoir is not a whim; the need to tell your stories and record them—whether for yourself, your family or wider audiences—is a deeply felt need, honored by history and tradition.  Writing a memoir is not beyond what you can succeed at and is a meaningful way to spend your time, intention and energy.

In the Writer’s Time: Management That Works program, we share our time management “secrets” for making time to write your memoir. Actually, like all “secrets,” ours are best practices that successful writers everywhere employ, and after you grow more aware of them through this program, you can choose to employ them also—and experience your memoir grow faster and better than you had thought possible!

Some of these secrets are so “basic” that they are often overlooked and so elude too many writers.

Time comes and goes whether we want it to or not, whether we pay attention to it or not. The only aspect of time management that you can control is you. That is, you can learn to control both how you think of time and how you make use of the time you have. This is what we are exploring in the Writer’s Time: Management That Works program.

Action steps you can take for making time to write your memoir

• In your writer’s journal or notebook, make notes on what currently gets in the way of managing your writing time effectively.
• Has will power been an effective tool in using your time more effectively? What does willpower feel like when you don’t want to write?
• Describe how it would feel to have a book in hand. Would this book enhance your life?  In what way?  What will get in the way of your writing this book?