Write Every Day Part 4: Scheduling
The first step in making sure you create a sustainable writing routine is scheduling your writing time. This may sound simple, but setting up a writing schedule is the most important thing you can do.
When can you write?
To begin the process of scheduling your writing time, ask yourself the question, ‘When do I really have time to write?’ Or ‘ How can I carve time out from a busy lifestyle?’
You’d be surprised when you start looking at your day, how easy it is to find an hour, or two, for writing.
First, identify your free time. What do you do with it at the moment? Do you watch TV, are you a keen gamer, do you meet up with friends or have a time-consuming hobby? Which of these could you give up or cut down on?
If you find yourself struggling to find a time when you can write, think of the writing time as a meeting with someone very important who you cannot reschedule. Writing is your VIP, and the time you have allocated to it cannot be moved.
If Time is Not An Issue
Perhaps time itself is not the issue. Many of the writers I help in my consultancy begin writing when they reach retirement, or when their children start school or leave home for university. Sometimes their job situation is undergoing a change. In these Covid times, many people suddenly have free time when they can realise their dream of becoming a writer.
However, even when time is plentiful, it can still be difficult to get down to writing, so it is very important to define a time when you are going to do nothing but write.
Once you have identified your writing time, preferably every day, remember to treat writing as if it is a crucial business meeting that you cannot miss.
Writing Is Your Job
Even if you are a seasoned self-published author, you may find it difficult to get down to writing. There’s always something else, apart from writing, that you could be doing. But if you call yourself a writer, surely writing is the most important task on your to-do list?
So schedule your writing time, ensure you hit your daily word count, because writing is what you do. Print out the words, I AM A WRITER and pin it to the wall above your desk. It will remind you that you have to write every day, whatever else happens.
Form a habit of writing
As well as deciding on a regular time for writing, take some time to decide where you are going to write. Humans are creatures of habit. According to a 2012 study by the British Journal of General Practice it can take between 18 and 255 days to form a habit, depending on what kind of habit. Humans create habits because they are easy for our brains.
Write Every Day is now out and available buy here
The study was commissioned to help patients form habits that would ensure a longer and healthier life. But these recommendations can just as easily be adopted for creating a sustainable writing routine.
Decide on a goal you want to achieve with your writing routine. This can be the daily word count, or the date when you will have finished the first draft of your manuscript.
Choose a simple action that will get you towards your goal, which you can do on a daily basis. Before I begin writing, I make myself a cup of coffee and sit down in front of my writing app, closing all other tabs on my computer.
Plan when and where you will do your chosen action. Be consistent: choose a time and place that you encounter every day of the week. Schedule your writing time.
Every time you encounter that time and place, do the action. If you plan to write every morning when you sit down at your computer, with your cup of coffee, say, you will automatically reach for your writing program and start writing.
It will get easier with time. Within 10 weeks you should find you are doing it automatically without even having to think about it.
Congratulations, you’ve created a sustainable writing routine!
The above may seem simplistic to you, but believe me, it works!
Forming a routine for writing is hugely important. If you are in the same space and do the same things every time you begin writing, your brain will understand that this is the time for you to produce some great words. This is why scheduling the time – and a place – for your writing is so important.
Remember writing is your job. If you want to be a successful writer, you need to write. The idea that a writer – or any artist – has to wait for the magical muse to visit in order to produce great works is highly misleading. I do believe that the concept of the muse, or the artist’s inspiration, that originated in Greek mythology has its place in modern life. But I also believe that you can invoke this ‘higher spirit of inspiration’ by forming a habit of writing. You’ll find that the more often you sit down at your writing desk, the more often the writer’s muse visits.
In the next blog post, I will go more deeply into how you can make yourself write every day by setting your targets. You can also find more examples and detail on how to schedule your writing time in my book, Write Every Day.
Want to see more posts like this?