Writing Truths to Embrace #1: Successful Writers Schedule Time to Work on Their Project
Many clients express doubts about their writing and how to successfully navigate the process of creating their own content. In this monthly series, I will bring you positive, approachable steps to help you overcome any of these common misconceptions. You can do it!
With summer graduation parties, cookouts, and road trips right around the corner, this seems like a good time to talk about how to balance writing time and the rest of your life. Somewhere along the line, it has been drummed into many of us that we have to write every day to be a successful writer. I feel sad that this idea is so widespread because I wonder how many exciting, important ideas are not being shared with the rest of the world because of it. If you are one of those people who beat themselves up about not being able to commit to working on your project enough, this post is for you!
Time management and commitment are definitely important factors in becoming a successful writer; however, they don’t apply in the way you might think. I often hear from clients that they feel they should commit to work every day for several hours. While being on a country retreat would allow us writers to work in this way, it is simply unsustainable for the vast majority of us. Most of us have families, work, or other commitments that demand our attention.
First, instead of working every day for hours, could you commit to one or two days a week, perhaps for a shorter period of time? Maybe your partner could help by taking the kids to practice on Saturday morning so you could work for a couple of hours? What about working at times of day when no one needs your attention? I have a friend who wrote his entire dissertation from 5:30-6:45AM on weekdays while his family was still asleep. This schedule was ideal for him because he is a morning person, and it allowed him to fulfill both his writing and family responsibilities.
The second time challenge is the length of time spent during one writing session. If you are super busy, could you commit to work on your project for 10 minutes at a time? One of my clients used this strategy to squeeze her work into her busy schedule. This allowed her to write whenever she felt inspired. Sometimes, she even recorded her ideas on her phone while she was stuck in traffic. Those small bites of text add up. She simply committed as much time as would fit into her life, and eventually, her text grew. In time, she even became more comfortable with working longer on it.
The key is to be realistic about your life and how much time you can devote to your project right now without self-judgement. You need to check in enough with your project that you still feel connected to it. Be flexible, though. If your kid is graduating, you’re going to be running around to a million parties and end-of-year banquets, so you need to pause your project until that time has passed. If thoughts occur to you when you aren’t at the computer, use your phone to send yourself an email or recording with your ideas so they will be accessible when you’re ready for them. With flexibility, I’m sure you can find a schedule that will work for you and the life you are living right at this moment. Then, you can renegotiate how to spend your time when your life has changed. After school starts, many of us will have more free time, for example.
Until next time, Friends, keep sharing your magic with the world, and keep on writing!
Dr. Zhenya
