{"id":2589,"date":"2020-02-21T09:00:03","date_gmt":"2020-02-21T14:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/?p=2589"},"modified":"2020-02-18T22:03:54","modified_gmt":"2020-02-19T03:03:54","slug":"4-steps-to-finding-time-to-write","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/4-steps-to-finding-time-to-write\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Steps to Finding Time to Write"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Come on, time. I know you’re there. Don’t play coy with me, bitch.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

You know the saying, \u201cWriters write every day\u201d? Here\u2019s the thing: this isn\u2019t true. The vast majority of successful writers don\u2019t actually write every day; maybe most<\/em> days, but not every day. Sometimes they get sick, or overwhelmed with family stuff, or go on vacation, or get hit by a car<\/a>, et cetera. Things come up, life happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real<\/em> saying should be: \u201cWriters finish<\/em>.\u201d Successful authors finish projects, period. If you never finish, you\u2019ve effectively done nothing. \u2026Unless you\u2019re writing just for fun, and then none of this advice matters anyway. BTW, good luck with that Cinderella\/Batman mashup story told from celebrity shock jock Howard Stern\u2019s point of view!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

As\nI\u2019ve said before, putting words on a page is the hardest part of writing. It\u2019s always\nthe reason an aspiring novelist fails to write a book. Usually it comes down to\ntime. The most common excuse for genuinely wanting to write a novel, and then\nnot writing a novel, is the lack of time for writing. They\u2019re always too busy\u2026so\nthey say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luckily,\nthe concept of finding time to write is not complicated. Maybe this post will\nbe short for once! Writing is basically the same thing as exercising. It\u2019s\nrewarding but also difficult, meaning you\u2019ll either consciously or\nunconsciously be constantly fishing for excuses not to do it. \u201cI don\u2019t have\ntime!\u201d is the oldest excuse in the book. What\u2019s even more insidious is the\nlonger you go without doing it, the harder it is to start again. If you wait\nfor inspiration to strike or to suddenly get the urge, you might start\nsomething but you\u2019ll never finish anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also\nlike exercise, the best strategy for forcing yourself to actually write is to\nschedule a specific time in your day, and then stick to it like it\u2019s a doctor\u2019s\nappointment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bottom line: If you make it a priority, there is\nalways time to write.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\nare 4 steps to finding time to write:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 1: First, figure out what time of the day is best for you.<\/b> Consider your daily obligations as well as when you\u2019re most productive. For instance: are you a morning person or maybe a night owl? Is there a key chunk of time between when you put the kids to bed and your own bedtime that might work? Can you eat and write at the same time during your lunchbreak?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 2: Next, decide how often and how long these time blocks will be.<\/strong> Depending on your preference, you can either spend a lot of time writing large chunks fewer times a week, or spend less time writing small chunks more often. Again, like exercise (\u2026writing really is like exercise), it\u2019s generally more effective to write for smaller amounts of time four or more times a week, mainly because the more time you spend not<\/em> writing, the harder it is to start again. But everybody has their preference, so do whatever works for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 3: Once you\u2019ve decided when you\u2019re going to write and for how long, decide what you\u2019re going to do with this block of time.<\/strong> Come up with a goal. Ideally, you want to sit down and write part of your story. If you\u2019ve already started to write a story, a simple goal is to start where you left off and force yourself to concentrate on continuing the story until you reach the end of your time block\u2014a time-based goal. You can even spend some of this time-based goal staring into space, but the point is you don\u2019t give up and do something else. You remind yourself every second of that time that you\u2019re supposed<\/em> to be writing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another goal you might give yourself is to finish a chapter or scene, or reach a word count\u2014a productivity-based goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It goes without saying (though I\u2019ll say it here anyway) that you need to eliminate distractions somehow. This is called willpower<\/em>, and only you know how much help you need with it. Find effective ways to prevent yourself from messing with your phone, or checking social media, or surfing the internet, or whatever (you know your vices) when you\u2019re supposed to be writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 4: After you do this a few times and stick to it, adjust as necessary and fall into a rhythm that works for you.<\/strong> For instance, I have a modest goal to write 300 words a day. I\u2019ve discovered over the years that my average writing speed is about 250 words an hour, no matter how hard I concentrate\u2014yeah yeah kinda slow, but it is what it is\u2014so I know it\u2019ll take me a little more than an hour to reach my goal. 300 words a day is not much (it\u2019s the equivalent of 1 to 2 pages of a hardcover novel), but if I do it almost every day, the result is ~2,000 words a week, ~8,000 words a month, and a full manuscript in about ten months. So, writing only 300 words a day still allows me to write, edit, and publish one book a year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And\nif I can do it\u2014with a husband, two young kids, a full-time job, and way too\nmany hobbies\u2026I also exercise a lot\u2014then you can too!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You know the saying, \u201cWriters write every day\u201d? Here\u2019s the thing: this isn\u2019t true. The vast majority of successful writers don\u2019t actually write every day; maybe most days, but not every day. Sometimes they get sick, or overwhelmed with family stuff, or go on vacation, or get hit by a car, et cetera. Things come … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “4 Steps to Finding Time to Write”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[495,609],"tags":[616,615,614,613,610,611,612],"class_list":["post-2589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction","category-finding-time-to-write","tag-300-words-a-day-goal","tag-eliminate-distractions","tag-make-writing-a-priority","tag-scheduling-time-to-write","tag-the-myth-of-writing-every-day","tag-writers-finish","tag-writing-is-like-exercising"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Vyi8-FL","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2589"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2591,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2589\/revisions\/2591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}