You Can Have a Thriving Writing Career as a Single Parent

a father reading a book with his baby - single parent writing career

Does this sound like you?

You have a strong passion for writing. Writing may be a new hobby or a deep, longing passion you’ve always nurtured. At the same time, you’re a single parent or sole guardian of one or more children. Still you want to start your single parent writing career. You know you can write this book, but you just don’t have the time. You say, “One day. Maybe. When the kids are older.” Well I say, do it now. Start today.

This simple guide will help you become that single parent who rocks their writing career. It’s also a great resource for any busy human who wants to build their writing career. So let’s dive in. The keys to success for any writer are always the same. They are even more essential for those of us with super busy and chaotic lives (e.g. single parents).

What are these magical keys? Get organized, find ways to stay motivated, establish and protect your boundaries, practice self care regularly, and love what you do. As long as you have these essential ingredients mixed into your own unique recipe for success, you cannot fail.

Become a Single Parent with a Writing Career – Follow These Steps

Get Organized

organized desk sample for a single parent writing career

Getting organized is an absolute must do first step before seeking your writing career as a single parent. This will probably be overwhelming and confusing. But once you have done this, you’re well on your way to success. Your goal is to figure out what you want from your newfound writing career and then make a plan for how to do it.

So how exactly does one get organized for such a colossal undertaking? First, you should create a writer’s notebook to help track all of your projects, record new ideas, and keep a general record of your writing journey. Check out this guide for more information on how to develop one.

Follow these basic steps to organize your writer’s life:

  • First, write down your aspirations for your writing career. Take some time to journal using the following prompts. Identify everything you want to do with your writing. Use them to figure out what writing actually means to you. Then move on to the next steps.
    • What do you want to accomplish?
    • What are your current writing projects?
    • Why do you write? What about writing appeals to you?
    • What types of books do you like to read and why?
    • How do you see your writing career progressing over the next 3 months? Over the next year? What about the next five years?
    • What is your favorite genre for reading? Is that the one you plan to write within?
    • What do you want your writing career to provide for you and your family? Is it just a hobby or are you hoping to transform your passion into a career?
  • Now that you’ve figured out who you are as a writer, it’s time to decide on a writing project. If you’re like me, you likely have dozens of scattered and unfinished projects. This post will teach you how to organize your writing projects and condense them into a simpler format.
  • Break all of your major goals down into more manageable projects.
  • Craft plans to accomplish each project by breaking them down further into smaller tasks.
  • Create a routine you love and that helps you accomplish small tasks every day.
  • Once you feel you’re well organized and you have a solid routine goin, start writing.

If you’re looking for more information on creating a better writer’s life, including how to craft a functional routine, check out this post on the habits of successful writers.

Find Your Motivation

motivation for writers "stop wishing, start doing"

This is perhaps the most important part of this process. Without motivation, your writing projects don’t stand a chance. You could have the most brilliant ideas in the world. But without your passion and drive, they won’t go anywhere. One of the best ways to discover motivation is to create it. How do you do that? With a vision board.

There are tons of ways to create vision boards. There’s no limit to how many vision boards you can have either. For example, you can create one for your writing goals – with pictures of famous authors and book covers that inspire you. You can make one for your actual novel – with pictures and quotes that spark your creative spirit. You can also craft one for your personal aspirations – what do you want from your writing career? Is it a house, money, or something else? Whatever it is, use those ideas to craft a vision board.

Some other motivational ideas include creating a “Reasons Why” list. This simple activity is extremely motivating and you can keep the list handy for those moments when your muse seems no where to be found. To create one, simply list all of the reasons why you want a career in writing. You could also write a letter to your future self that lists all of your hopes and dreams for the future writing career you hope to have. Remember that motivation isn’t constant. There will be days when writing seems impossible. This is why it’s so important to have visual tools to help you get back on track.

Set Healthy Limits & Boundaries

women in a vast body of water - setting boundaries to help you achieve your single parent writing career goals

The most difficult part of being a writer and a single parent is often finding the time and space to write. You likely work long hours only to come home to work the rest of the day in your parenting role. Many of you might even work multiple jobs. So how do you find the time to write? Once you you do, how do you protect that time so you can actually get your writing done?

While there is no single solution that works for everyone. There are many things you can do to find (and keep) your writing time. here are some suggestions to try:

Start by time-blocking your days. For more on this process, read this article. Identify areas in your busy schedule that could be dedicated to a writing activity (even brainstorming during your morning commute can be vastly beneficial in the long run). Try swapping some of your Netflix time for a writing session.

You could even get your kid(s) involved. Make sure you have a dedicated writing space. Then when it’s time to write, have your kid(s) work on a project of their own while you write. For example, when I’m doing work for InkWell Spills, my daughter has a pretend laptop she uses for her own “website” creation. She even has a little binder like mine for all of her little notes.

You will need to be creative, dedicated, and efficient to succeed in your single parent writing career. But I know you can do this. It is critical to make sure your family knows how important your writing is to you. Show them your passion for it. Protect your time. In the end, only you know what will work for you. But demonstrating the importance of your writing career will go a long in helping others realize that this is something you need to do.

Stick to Your Deadlines

close up photography of wristwatch

Trust me when I say I know how tempting it is to just go to bed after a long day, or to hit that snooze button if you’re getting up early to write. Some days you will need to do this to protect your own mental and physical wellbeing. However, you have to stick to your own deadlines if you want to succeed. Putting your writing off once in a while is absolutely ok and even necessary, especially as a single parent. But doing this too often will make that writing career you’re dreaming of just that – a dream.

Transforming a dream into an achievable goal requires patience and dedication. That being said, you need to create reasonable deadlines for yourself. Don’t pretend that you can write a novel in a week and a half. You will need to become a master of time budgeting in order to stick to your deadlines. Find ways to squeeze every creative drop out your brain whenever you can. Stay up an extra hour to get that last chapter down. Or get up a bit early to organize your thoughts. This is where a writer’s notebook come in very handy. Be sure to check out all the resources on InkWell Spills for more writer’s notebook ideas.

Deadlines are great motivators. Read more about why they help you accomplish your goals. But only you know your schedule and your energy levels. You have to set your deadlines accordingly. If you constantly set unrealistic deadlines, you will only become frustrated and overwhelmed. Do your best to accomplish your goals within the timeframes you’ve set for yourself. Just be sure you are being reasonable and patient with yourself.

Practice Self Care

people toasting wine glasses - emphasizing the importance of self care in the realm of a single parent writing career

You can do this if you take it one day at a time. Say that again but slowly. Life is stressful. Life as a single parent is even more stressful. You don’t have that second set of hands to rely on when things get tough. So you must put your own self care at the forefront of everyday. Make sure you get enough sleep as often as possible. Eat healthy when you can. Take time to do things you enjoy. Take a night off once in a while. Can’t think of anything to do for yourself? I got you. For more ideas on self care, check out this post. It has a very useful (and free) printable self care checklist you can grab as well.

If you’re interested in reading up on the subject, this post has an amazing list of books that have helped me through some of the worst days of my life. They might give you new found inspiration in your times of need. You can also take a look at these self care collection pages ideas. That post houses tons of ideas for your writer’s notebook that will help you track and manage your self care on a weekly or even daily basis.

Fall in Love with Your Project

vintage typewriter and telephone on the table

This is the final piece of advice for creating that magical single parent writing career. Nothing works quite so well to help you achieve your dreams as falling in love with them. Take a work project for example. It’s something you have to do. Your livelihood depends on it. So you will get it done. You’ll make sure it’s good enough. But that’s about it.

Now let’s look at a project for something a little more special. This example will be a home project. You’re creating a new kitchen. This is a very expensive and arduous process. So you will have to live with the results for a very long time. You’re not going to deal with a new kitchen that’s simply “good enough.” You’re going to leave your mark, make it yours, and love every detail that goes into it.

The same is true for your writing projects. Don’t pick something that only kind of appeals to you. Most importantly, don’t pick something simply because you think it will make you a lot of money. While this may work for some, it won’t for those of us who are single parents. Why? You need passion to succeed. If you’re not passionate about your writing career, it will inevitably fail.

So how does one fall in love with a writing project? There is no exact science. But a good place to start is with books you love to read. What genre houses the majority of them? Identify your top three favorite books of all time. Then take a moment to write down everything you love about them. Is it the characters? The story? The world building? Maybe all of the above. Now imagine one of those top three is your book. What about it do you love the most? Why is it special to you?

The last thing you need to do in preparation for your amazingly successful writing career is to make one more list. Sorry, lists are super useful. This list is going to be more like a love letter to your book. Identify the story idea you’re going to focus on the most. Then list all of the magical qualities about this story that make it special to you. Don’t worry about what anyone else thinks. Why does it matter to you? Make this list exhaustive, add to it often. Reference it at least once a week or whenever you feel the need. As long as you love your story, I promise others will too.

Additional Resources for Single Parent Writing Career Development

If you have followed all of the steps above, congratulations for taking your single parent writing career into your own hands. You’re well on your way to success. But if you think you might need some more help, check out the tools and resources below. Don’t forget to come back here often to find more motivational and inspiration words to help you on your writing journey. If you want, feel free to leave a comment letting me know what steps you’ve taken to start your writing career. Or if there’s something you need help with, let me know! Best of luck to you.

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