As a busy author, finding time to write regularly—alongside work, family, laundry, and maybe even a social life—can be a challenge. I don’t know about you, but I find myself falling into one particular trap over and over again, and that’s the mindset that if I don’t have an extended time (and, of course, the perfect space) to write, then I just flat don’t have any time to write.
Recently, however, I read some advice that’s really been changing the way I think about it: instead of saying “I don’t have time to write,” this coach suggested saying, “I’m not prioritizing my writing right now.” That simple mindset shift is huge. It’s a “tough love” approach that puts the accountability square on the writer’s shoulders and puts her back in control of her time to write—both the long stretches and the fifteen-minute sprints.
Still, it’s not easy. Here are five tips that will help you put your new, accountable, in control mindset into practice.
1. Protect Your Writing Time
A lot of people will tell you to schedule your writing time, putting on your calendar right next to your work meetings and your workouts. And I agree with that advice—making time for writing in your schedule makes it feel just as important as everything else you’re juggling. But I think there’s a first step that makes this even more powerful.
Find your best time to write. Are you most creative in the mornings before your inner critic wakes up? On your lunch break before that last cup of coffee wears off? Late at night when the house is quiet?
It may take some trial and error to find your best writing time, but once you do, then that’s what I recommend putting on your calendar. That way, instead of just slotting it in wherever you can—during different times every day, when you may or may not be able to get in the zone—you’re protecting the time you know will work best for you and your own unique creative flow.
2. Protect Your Writing Space
Whether you’re one of the lucky ones with a room of her own, or all you can rustle up is a nook in the living room, having a dedicated writing space can work wonders for getting you in the right mindset to put words on the page.
If you have a space in your home that you can dedicate solely to writing, deck it out with everything you need: a notebook, your favorite pens, mood boards, headphones…whatever you need to get in the zone. And leave it all there, in order and ready to go, so that the minute you sit down in that space, you’re in the mood to write.
If you share your writing space with another activity—the desk where you do your day job, the kitchen counter where you pack lunches, or even your kids’ homework table—find a way to give it a quick makeover before each writing session. This doesn’t have to be time-consuming. Just clear away the other responsibilities, and swap them out with whatever makes the space belong to the serious writer you are. A mug of tea, the perfect candle, a new playlist…you get the idea.
While you’re at it, wherever you’re writing, do your best to eliminate distractions. Turn off your phone, close your email, and turn up that “coffee shop ambience” on YouTube or throw on your noise-cancelling headphones. The dirty dishes in the sink can wait. The laundry no longer exists. When you’re in your writing space, all you have to worry about is writing.
3. Stay Flexible
Contrary to everything I’ve just said, writers who really want to maximize their time know how to stay flexible. We all wish we could treat ourselves to regular writing retreats to write pages upon pages with no interruptions, but unfortunately, that’s just not possible for the average Jane.
Sometimes, we let our rituals—those long stretches of time, that perfect candle—get in the way of our writing, and we end up squandering hours we didn’t even know we had. Think about the interstitial moments you have sprinkled throughout your day: twenty minutes between meetings, thirty in the carpool line, fifteen while dinner’s in the oven…none of these pockets of time may feel like enough to make progress, but guess what? They are. And they add up.
Here's where that new mindset—“I’m not prioritizing my writing” versus “I don’t have time to write”—really comes into play. I had a high school theater teacher who would never let us complain about how busy we were with schoolwork. She’d listen for about thirty seconds before swooping in and reminding us that if we’d just stop complaining and start doing, we’d make a lot more progress on our assignments.
I challenge you to do the same. Stop complaining about not having time to write, or convincing yourself that the thirty minutes your kiddo is in his piano lessons aren’t enough to get anything done. Instead, choose to prioritize your writing, get out your notepad (or your notes app) and put down some words.
4. Prep for Your Next Writing Session Now
One great way to help you take advantage of those little bursts of writing time is to tee up your next writing session ahead of time. When you’re wrapping up a long session, make a list of the next two or three things you want to do. Maybe that’s drafting the next scene, rewriting an argument between your protagonist and her mom, and then tackling a character development exercise to help you understand your antagonist better.
When you have that to-do list queued up, then the next time you have fifteen or twenty or thirty minutes, you don’t have to spend any of that time trying to figure out what to do. Instead, you can just look at the next thing on your agenda and get to work.
5. Get Help
Writing is, by nature, a solitary activity, but that doesn’t mean you have to go it alone. There are lots of ways to get help and even build a little community as a writer.
If your problem is that you’re struggling with what to write—that the gears are stuck and you need them loosened—don’t be afraid to start with a writing prompt or two to get things moving. Prompts get a bad rap sometimes, but if you’re using them strategically, they can be really powerful tools to help you find new ways into your work.
If your problem is that you’re having trouble holding yourself accountable—or that you’re just lonely—look for a writing group or accountability buddy to keep you honest. These setups can be as formal or as casual as you’d like, and they can make your writing life far more fun and fruitful.
And Most Importantly…
Be kind to yourself: Don’t beat yourself up if you miss a writing session or you just don’t have the energy one day (or one week or one month). Life happens, and it’s okay to take a break. You’re still a writer.