In 2013, shortly after starting up a writer’s group, I put out a survey to my writers. What was their number one hurdle in finishing a book? The answer was most often finding time. Three months later, I introduced my third book in six months: The Write Time.
Time is the enemy of every writer. There’s never enough of it, and it wriggles out of your grasp as easily as a greased pig when you do find it. So how do you conquer the problem of not having enough time to write?
1. Eliminate Distractions
Close down Facebook or social media, turn off the phone, close down the email, and focus on your writing. Even if it’s just for 10 minutes, you’ll be amazed at how much writing you can accomplish when you eliminate the distractions around you.
2. Make an Appointment
Set an appointment with yourself and show up prepared to write. Take your appointment seriously, and let everyone know that the only acceptable reasons to interrupt your appointment is if they are dead, dying, or bleeding. Make sure you take the action of writing that appointment with yourself down in your day planner, use your email to remind you, or put it into your smart phone.
3. Get Organized
Keep your writing supplies in one location and put them into a binder or a tote bag so that whenever you have a few moments, you can grab them and go without having to waste the time hunting for what you need. When you’re trying to write quickly, you can’t afford to lose even a few minutes of your writing time because you couldn’t find something.
4. Always Be Prepared
The best way to do this is to create a portable writing kit. It’s just a tote bag with your pens, index cards, journal, and binder with your writing outline and reference materials in it. You can then take this portable writing kit with you wherever you go and get the benefit of every small window of writing opportunity that comes up.
Combine Activities
There are important things you need to do in life, and you don’t have to let go of those. Some of those activities can be combined to gain some extra time for writing. For instance, taking time to pray while you are exercising can help you capture extra time without sacrificing either your physical or spiritual health. Time commuting can be used to talk out your book idea into a smartphone or audio recorder and this can allow you to capture extra writing time, too.
Next Post: Getting Support for Your Writing
It can be tough writing when you don’t feel like anyone else believes in you. I’ll share with you some strategies you can put into place to help you find the support and encouragement you need to keep writing.
Your tips?
Do you have any tips you’d like to offer on how you find time to write? Share them in the comments and everyone wins.