If You Have the Time to Write, Use That Time to Write

 

Photo Credit: Photo by Laker at Pexels

 

Recently, I was sitting on the couch reading on my phone, when I was notified of a new message in Facebook Messenger. Because it was after 1AM, I almost didn’t respond – until I saw the words, “I thought that we were friends.” I frowned. What the heck was going on? So I opened the message and read it, Apparently, one of my friends (now a former friend) had seen a comment I made on Facebook and took it personally. This person thought I was talking about her when I was not. Unfortunately, she ended our friendship over this and as much as her words hurt me and as much as losing this friendship made me sad, I was also reminded of how people often spend their free time scrolling on their phone and allowing what they read to influence them in some way. That is what happened with this person. Instead of asking me who I was talking about, she automatically assumed it was her and went after me. I was talking about someone else and she thought I was lying when I told her this. She was pretty much convinced by the unverified assumption that I was talking about her. People like to believe the lies they tell themselves.

 

This experience also made me think about how I have often done the same thing. I’d get upset over reading comments on social media and allow that to pretty much just ruin my day. Then I’d have to stop to remind myself that I am allowing someone else to have control over how I feel. I’m allowing someone else to just ruin my whole day and make me feel bad. In such situations, I had to realize that I was using up free time I had doing something that was a waste of my time and how I could have been spending that time doing something better. Something more productive, like writing.

 

We all have the same 24 hours in our day, and for most of us, we get to decide how to use that 24 hours. Of course, some of it must be used for sleeping, eating, and managing our health, but on many occasions, we will have free time to do whatever we want to do.

 

So, why not use that time to write?

 

Instead of doomscrolling on our phone.

 

Instead of binging on chips while watching TV.

 

Instead of gossiping about or hating on other people.

 

Use that time to write instead.

 

One common complaint that I see from people who say “I wish I could write” is that they never have the time to write. But they do, they just don’t see it.

 

For these people, time to write means hours of uninterrupted time or being able to comfortably write at the desk. But the real writers who find the time to write, and make the time to write, are the ones who are writing on their lunch break, writing right before they go to bed (or first thing in the morning) or writing while doing other things.

 

The next time you have some free time, use it to write. Even if it is the only time you have to write, it’s still one way for you to get the writing done. So get that writing done the next time you have the time, instead of getting all upset over something you read on Facebook.

Setting Aside Time to Write

 

Photo Credit: Ron Lach via Pexels

 

As someone who spends Monday through Friday setting aside time for Twisted Dreams Press as well as working on anything related to the newsletter and reading books I am reviewing, it can be a struggle to find the time to work on my own writing: Books, short stories, poetry, essays, articles, and anything else my creativity comes up with.

 

But the thing of it is, we don’t really find the time for the important things in our lives. We MAKE the time for them.

 

So, at the end of the day, even if I’m tired or physically drained, I still made time to get some writing done this week. I have reviewed all the work I have got done this week (so far!) and I was happy to see that, in spite of everything else I had to do, I still made time to work on my own writing.

 

I am currently revising a short story and I got some VERY helpful feedback from a reader on things to add to this story, so I have been working on making those additions.

 

I have been revising my book, 365 Tips for Writers, because it is currently out of print, but I am at the stage where I am not only revising it, but adding more to it as well. This is necessary in order to make the new format of this book work. So, I made time to get some writing done for this book as well.

 

And of course, I’ve worked on the two articles I needed to finish writing this week. One is finished and sent off to the editor. The other one is almost done; I hope to complete it by Sunday, 3/29. I made time to write in these articles as well. And even on those days, I also got some writing done in one of my WIPs (I am working on several books) or something of my own to write (such as poetry!).

 

I have noticed that some people who work in publishing have said that they feel guilty if they set aside time for their own writing. I think this is nothing to feel guilty about. If you are a writer, you owe it to yourself to set aside time to write. Don’t give your whole time to the job in publishing. It is not the only thing that you are. You are also a writer, and you are doing yourself a disservice if you don’t set aside time to write. Just as you are also a student or spouse or parent, etc. You need to manage your time so that you are able to have a slot of time for each of the things that are a part of your life.

 

This is why I stick to “business hours” with the press – well, usually. Last night, for instance, I remembered an anthology we plan to announce an open call for in the near future, so last night, I emailed a writer who submitted a story for an anthology that wasn’t right for it to let him know about this project, and ask if he wanted a spot in it. I wanted to do this before I forgot to do this (again!). But usually, yes, I stick to “business hours” with the press. Once I am done for the day, I am done. And THEN I can focus on my own stuff.

 

Having business hours and sticking to them is the key to being able to still do other things with your life when it comes to a job or career. Don’t let your job in publishing take up all of your time during the workday. By sticking to business hours, there is no reason to feel guilty about spending time working on your own writing. If you are a writer, you need to write.

 

And you need to make that time to write, too. If you only have five minutes to write, then use that five minutes to write. That’s what I did this week no matter how busy it was and you should try to do that too. It is YOUR time to manage and figure out how to spend it.

 

If you are able to spend your free time writing, then write.

 

But some people will think, “Oh, I can’t concentrate on the writing right now” or “I don’t feel like writing.” But, maybe you can? And maybe you do? Try it. Try writing something in a journal, write a few sentences in your WIP or try writing some notes for a piece you need to write.

 

I did, and I feel a lot better that I still got some writing done every day this week. Any week that I am able to write every day is certainly a good one, so make it a good week for yourself too when it’s Monday again and get writing. 

 

Remember, what you write doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be written.

How Breaking Down My Writing Goal Boosted My Productivity and Helped Me Complete More Writing Projects

 

 

Whenever a week ends, I spend time reviewing the work I managed to get done as it was recorded in my planner. If I didn’t do a certain thing that week, I’d make a note to get it done next week. One thing I often noticed when I did this last year was that I wasn’t getting as much work done on my books as I would have liked. Yes, I did manage to write a poetry book and a few children’s books last year, but not much else.

 

So I made a decision that this would change in the new year.

 

In the early days of my writing, I would make it a point to write, revise and edit something every day – because I often had a lot of material to write, revise and edit! This was especially true when I got to the point where I wrote a bunch of books and didn’t do much else with them.  

 

So before the new year started, I developed one writing goal: To work on at least one of my books every day. And not only this, but I decided that what I would do is write, revise and edit a book every day. Because I DO have book manuscripts that need to be written, revised and edited!

 

I was not specific about this new goal, however, so I made sure I wrote exactly what I would write, revise and edit.

 

 

However, as I began to execute this plan, I realized that the order of my tasks did not work for me. So I changed them around since I’m more creative in the mornings.

 

Thanks to having this breaking down of my writing goal, I have managed to get writing done in a book every day. I have even gotten work done in two books in a single day. I think that making working on my books a priority may have created the mindset to get ‘er done every day, but I would like to think that my writing goal for this year may have helped too.

 

But unfortunately, there are going to be days when I can only get work done on one book – be it the writing, revising or editing. I realized this when that very day came along this week.

 

 

One of the things that I REALLY like about this arrangement is that, no matter what happens in my day, I will STILL get some work done on my writing goal: Focusing on writing a book. That Tuesday that I was unable to do ANY other writing? I still got some writing done in a book, because I worked on it first thing in the morning.

 

And that’s one other thing I realized as I put this writing goal into practice: The mornings are the best time for me to write. Yes, there are some mornings when I wake up feeling like death (and I learned to switch around my routine on just such occasions), but for the mornings when I wake up feeling refreshed and energized, I get to the desk and start writing! So if I get the writing in a book done in the morning, then at least I got THAT done even if I can’t do the other things.

 

But as I moved through my days going about this routine, I had to ask myself something: What about all the other things that I need to write, revise and edit? I have a bunch of short stories, essays, articles and poems that I need to write, revise and edit as well. Heck, I have a whole LIST of books and short stories to write!

 

I could not neglect these things.

 

So I revised my writing goal just a bit, and in the process, took advantage of that time I was setting aside to write, revise and edit. For each session, I would also write, revise and edit whatever other thing I had on the table that needed this kind of attention. Sometimes I will write, revise and edit more than one thing if I have the time and energy.

 

 

 

I love this arrangement SO MUCH BETTER than the original one. Because even if there is no writing done in a book, the writing, revising and editing will still happen that day, just for other things. Like with today, for example. I didn’t write in the book I started writing this year. Instead, I interviewed a couple of people for it. But this is for the book, so something was still done for a book I’m writing. And I STILL did some writing – in this blog post and also in an article I plan to finish writing today. So the writing, revising and editing still happens each day even if that writing, revising and editing doesn’t happen for a book.

 

So far, this routine is going well in helping me to achieve my writing goal. But it also did something else: It boosted my productivity.

 

BEFORE:

  

AFTER: 

 

Thanks to this boost in productivity, I am getting more work done every day and I am moving ever-closer to FINALLY completing the work on other writing projects too. For example, there is one short story I really needed to finish revising, but I just worked on it whenever I had the time. Or remembered to work on it. Now that I make revising short stories a priority, I revise them, edit them, and send them off. Then I move on to the next one!

 

This has shown in my work on the books too. I get more work done on them faster and can move on to the next book to work on in better time.

 

And because I have other things going on – reviewing books, doing research for my various projects, working on my newsletter and of course the work for the press – I made it a point to start working on those in between my writing, revising and editing sessions. This has helped me to achieve balance in meeting certain obligations while also working on my books and other writing projects.

 

This type of arrangement may not be for everyone, but it works for me, and I’m thrilled with how well it has helped me complete work on books and writing projects on a much better timeline than I had before. Breaking down my writing goal has really helped me figure out the best way to achieve it. As long as I follow the structure, I will finish working on my books and get more writing done for other things too.