I used to think I had no time to write poems. I graduated from my MFA program, moved back to the DC area and got a strange job managing the production of direct mail packages for nonprofits. I lived on homemade mashed potatoes and Caesar salad (not because I was poor but because I had no clue how to cook and those were the two dishes my boyfriend knew how to make) and commuted 45 minutes each way to work. Inspired by O’Hara’s Lunch Poems, I used to drive my car over to a nearby golf course, eat a bagel with cream cheese and write my terrible poems. Even though I “had no time,” I still wrote. I knew the poems were not good. That was not the point. The point was to write.

Just for you…5 Ways to Find Time to Write Poems

1. Use Bloglines to subscribe to your poetry blogs. Stop using those links in your blogroll! With Bloglines, you can see who has updated so you don’t waste time visiting blogs without new posts since the last time you visited. You are able to read blogs in your Bloglines viewer and easily page through blog posts.

2. Batch Tasks Together: I save up a bunch of 32 Poems subscriptions (did you know you can subscribe now and get one additional free issue in your subscription?) and complete them all together in one batch instead of doing a few here and a few there. The process becomes quicker and more automated if I do them all together. Even better will be when I have software to do this task for me.

3. Figure Out the Most Important Item You Must Do: Are you doing the most important task right now? If not, get it done. You’ll save yourself some energy from worrying about that task.

4. Do Easy Tasks Now: If you get an email with an easy request, complete it now. Then, you do not have to bother with adding it your task list, writing it down or saving the email in a special folder. Do the task and delete the email.

5. Use Lists. I started to place my tasks in Outlook even though I don’t use that for email. Using this task list saves me time, and I can easily rearrange tasks (which is hard to do with paper!).

Have fun saving time and having more time to write poems. Read this for more info on Time Management for Poets.