How to write a novel if you only have five minutes here, ten minutes there to work on it?

Question

I once read an interview with some Fantasy author, who told how she wrote her first novel in the breaks between classes when she was working as a teacher, because she couldn't write at home due to her four children (I forget the exact details, but you get the idea).Working creatively within such a restricted time frame seems difficult if not impossible to me, but I'd like to attempt it, because for me at the moment it's either write while my kids brush their teeth or not write at all.How does writing your novel for a couple of hours uninterrupted each day compare to writing whenever you have five minutes? What are the problems? What are good strategies?

Answer 1

Writing in short time increments can be hard, but you could dictate into an audio device and then type once a week while family is a sleep. My undergrad was done as single parent with children under 10. I literally learned to study while they were playing in the room and I got up at 3 am two times per week to write essays until 6 am, then got them and me ready for work and school. There are 24 hours in a day use them wisely. Tip: put children on schedule for bedtime then work afterwords until your bedtime. Hope it helps.