Many of us are schedulers, meaning we have a daily planner and we use it. We jot down every appointment, meeting, grocery shopping trip and more. So why not schedule our writing time on the calendar or planner? I can almost hear you saying, “Yeah, good question. Why not?”
Finding Time to Write is important, but making time to write is imperative. If you write only when you find the time, you’ll likely never finish anything, or at the very least, it will take you far longer to complete that writing project than necessary. And who has time, really, for that? We are all busy, so time is important, don’t let it slip away.
I realize I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know or suspect, but we all need reminders, especially if we’ve gotten ourselves stuck in the “I can’t find the time to write” mode. Shake it off and get writing! Yeah, easier said than done, right? Nope.
Granted, there will be times when you absolutely must stomp all over the time you carved out to write on any given day, that’s true of life. But keep it to a minimum. Don’t let just any activity, event, daydream, phone call, nails in need of filing, a dog barking in the background, or internet rabbit hole throw you off course. Schedule that stuff for another time.
“But it’s hard to stay focused with so much to do” you might say. And I say, “You must if you want your writing career to get anywhere, or finish that novel or even short story.” Remember, it may be short, but it takes plenty of time to mold into perfection.
So, how do you insure (for the most part) that you write as often as you’d like, or as often as you need? It’s not magic, and you don’t even need to build some elaborate machine that shocks you every time you even think about leaving your chair. I mean you could do that, but there is an easier way: you schedule it! Like anything else that’s important to you.
Schedule, schedule, schedule.
I tell you this coming from a place of experience. I practice what I preach, and I schedule writing time on my weekly planner every week. I do. Even though the days I write are generally the same days every week, I jot down a block of time anyway. That’s the only way I can be sure I’ll sit down at the computer and write. I stop when I’m ready to stop, but I definitely have a start time. And if something does cause me to have to interrupt my carefully planned schedule, I move my writing to another time rather than scrap it all together.
Don’t get me wrong, there are times when I don’t write at all as planned. I am human, after all, and far from perfect. But the schedule helps minimize those occasions. You don’t have to be super rigid about it, but if you have it on your calendar, chances are you’ll make it work more often than not. Give it a try; it can’t hurt.
You can take a look at this subject from a slightly different angle by visiting The Write Life, an excellent resource for writers every day. But don’t stay too long, you have a schedule to keep!
Before you start pounding away on that well-worn keyboard, please take a minute to follow this blog and/or leave a comment, offering your own advice or personal experience on the subject.
Thank you,
Happy writing!