Note: this article originally posted in 2023: I’ve had lots more ideas since then, so I’m updating it :)

Are you out there reading this somewhere in near-despair, wondering how you can ever make time for the things that fill you with creative bliss…?

Whether your schedule is insane, your priorities are all at each other’s throats, AND/OR you’re feeling overwhelmed by life's demands, fear not! There are ways to make room for art without sacrificing too many of your other commitments or even sacrificing chickens to the elder gods.

First, I’ll share my way, and then I’ll add some others I’ve tried through the years that are also well worth a shot.

But first: take a chill pill, babe

I hate the word consistency.

It’s awful, isn’t it, being mandated to show up at the same thing, no matter what it is, on time and ready to go.

*[this is what overwhelm & burnout feel like to me].*

Nothing kills the juices like a schedule. Time to slow down, be kind to yourself and relax. Being useful is overrated.

To all those experts and writers out there saying things like “you have to write every day or you’ll never achieve your dreams”: I say, in the voice of my mom in the 1980s: take a chill pill, babe.

Making the thing matters

Creative work serves the same purpose: it makes space for who you are and what you are trying to say. That matters more than most of the small, endless tasks that fill a day.

In short: Look for pockets of idle time throughout your day, such as during lunch breaks or while commuting, and use them to sketch, brainstorm ideas, or practice your craft. Create with reckless abandon in the margins of the day.

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Understand what you’re up against

There are people out there who get to scribble around for hours at a stretch in uninterrupted quiet, fierce determination, all that stuff. They’re either professionals or assholes or male or all 3.

For the rest of us, finding time for art is hard for 3 main reasons.

The myth of “having enough time.” There is never a perfect, open stretch waiting for you.
Perfectionism. The quiet but persistent voice that says you can’t start until you’re prepared and ready. Life and art don’t wait for you.
Guilt. Both for not making art, and for wanting to make art at all.

Recognising these barriers is the 1st step toward overcoming them.

The more often that you fill up the gaps of the day with chaos, the easier it will become. The point is to embrace making as an integral thread in the weaving of your daily life; instead of something that you do only when you feel inspired or have spare time.

The myth of “having enough time”: combine art with the life you already have

I think this is the most insidious story we tell ourselves: we just don’t have enough time. But what if you start thinking about time differently, in bites instead of full meals?

What if you found ways to mash art in with other activities (yes mash is the technical term).

Caitlin Metz wrote about how she started doing drawings of herself every morning at the same time every day, no matter how slammed she was.

This is from her book Feel Something, Make Something, which I mentioned in my last post, Processing difficult emotions (with a journal)).

How does her approach work? Making the project small, quick and doable.

Small (it doesn’t take much page space)
Quick (preferably you set a timer)
Doable (it’s something you can actually do, sustainably; there’s no point in saying oh, I’m going to do a 100 Day Project and do a new collage every day if you really just don’t have the time or headspace)

In praise of small things

Making art in general slows time down. Which is way better than having it flittering by as we doomscroll. In this careening world that is running faster and faster, I try to create spaces that don’t. This is where gremlins come in.

Other ways to make time to create wonderful things (with star ratings)

Prioritise and plan ⭐⭐

Take a closer look at your daily routine and identify activities that consume unnecessary time. Consider how you can redistribute or eliminate them to create space for art.

Set a specific goal (even if it’s extremely small) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Having a clear and realistic goal can motivate you to make time for art.

For example, you might want to finish a painting by the end of the month, or participate in an online challenge, or submit your work to a contest.

Whatever your goal is, make sure it is something that excites you and challenges you.

Mash the things together to make new things ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I mentioned Caitlin Metz above. In her book she also suggests to have little projects that can be added to and are easy.

Like doing one-line sketches when you have your coffee, and keep doing them in the same time and place.

Soon you’ll have a whole pile of one line sketches that document this pause moment in your day. Cool! She mentions a project she did where she did a contour drawing of her face in the mirror every time she brushed her teeth.

Love it.

Even short bursts of creativity can yield significant results.

Jump. Seriously ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The first sentences you write in the story you’re working on don’t have to be anything good or even related to your story. They just need to get you typing. You can delete them later. I have a zine kind of related to all this called The Blank Page is Always Horrifying: A Zine For Writers, and guess what, you can buy it on my 100% billionaire-free ko-fi shop.

Thanks for reading:)

And if you’d like ongoing prompts, collage pages, and behind‑the‑desk peeks while you keep going, you’ll find them here:

Carving Space for Art in a Busy, Burned-Out World