Writing Tip Wednesday: Finding Time to Write

Writing Tip Wednesday is back!

If you participated in November’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), you’re likely burned out. Indeed, the holiday season is a good time to rest the creative muse and take a break from feverishly writing, so that you can start again in January with renewed vigor.

If you’re like me, you’re writing on top of your full-time job and family obligations. You may think that you don’t have time to write, and I’ve got a few tips to help you organize your time. It’s been my experience that people with less free time are generally better about organizing their time than people who don’t have a lot of obligations, so don’t despair.

1. Set a realistic daily or weekly word goal, i.e. 500 or 1,000 words a day, and do your best to stick to it. A successful author I know, who writes fantasy full-time, writes only about 2,000 words a day. That is certainly achievable, even if you are writing part-time. Even if you are only writing 300 words a day, that’s 2,100 words a week, or 8,400 words a month. A 50,000-word novel is thus achievable in a few months.
2. Write for ten to fifteen minutes a day. Abandon the idealistic notion that everything you write must be perfect as soon as you set the words down. Most of the time it won’t be. Just write. For many, it is easier to edit what they have already written than to write fresh words. Get the words down, and you can go back and edit later. Even writing for ten minutes a day, you could write a handful of scenes during that time. You would be amazed at what you can accomplish if you hustle.
3. Write in a dayslong feverish sprint. This strategy works if you can dedicate a few days only to writing. A friend of mine wrote a book called How to Write a Book in Five Days (publisher Story Girl Press, LLC). She presents an easy structure in which you can achieve this goal. This strategy is geared toward writing what she calls “dime store fiction,” i.e., romance, thrillers, etc. This strategy will not necessarily work if your intention is to write the next Grapes of Wrath. At the end of the five days, you end up with a 50,000-word manuscript. Yes, you will write 10,000 words a day, and you will not pay attention to grammar and structure. You will fix those things after you have completed your draft. I occasionally do a variation of this strategy, depending on my schedule. If I have several evenings free, I will set a goal of, i.e. 1,000 or 2,000 words an evening, and at the end of 5 evenings I have 5,000 to 10,000 words, no small accomplishment. Shorter sprints are also effective. Set a timer for, e.g., 30 minutes, and write/edit/etc. If you do sprints as part of a writing group, either online or in person, afterward you can report to each other what you have accomplished, e.g., wrote 500 words, edited 5 pages, etc. This action encourages you to get things done; it certainly helps to have accountability buddies.
4. Carry a notepad, smartphone or other device to take notes whenever inspiration strikes you, so you don’t lose your creative flow. Then make time to add your notes to your manuscript. I use this process ALL the time. At the end of the week, I end up with several notes on my smartphone. I then transfer them to my manuscript. Often, writing my notes down gets the creative juices flowing, and I can knock out a few scenes in the process.

I’ve given you a few different methods for getting your writing done. Yes, writing is a lot of work. Yes, you will forego social gatherings. Yes, you will spend a lot of time indoors instead of enjoying the sun outside. Whatever you choose to do in life is up to you.

The most financially successful authors are usually the most prolific; you need to get that book done and write another one. So ask yourself, how badly do you want to achieve your writing goals?

Authors, how do you write? Do you use writing sprints? Do you write a little every day or do you devote blocks of days to writing? Do you outline first or are you a pantser who writes as you go? Let me know at maria@lawschoolheretic.com.

Happy Writing!