One of the biggest impediments to our writing is time, and we all have unfinished drafts to prove it,
It always takes much longer than we think, and this can be dispiriting, not to mention stressful. Writing a book is a huge undertaking, and when time is sparse, it can leave us feeling believing we don’t have what it takes.
So in today’s episode, I want to challenge you to think differently about time, so you can get more writing done, and with more focus.
I’ll give you 3 tips to make more use of the time you have. Even if it’s very little.
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Episode at a glance:
[02:28] Track Your Time for One Week
The first step is getting a clear picture of where you time goes. Track how much time you spend on everything – sleeping, cooking, eating, commuting, working, driving the kids to soccer practice, watching Netflix, scrolling Facebook, etc. Just the act of tracking your time for one week makes you more conscious of how you spend the hours available to you, so you can put some of that time back into your writing cache.
[05:48] Attention Span
Write when your attention span is at its peak. How much time can you spend completely focused and in flow without getting distracted by the outside world? Capture that time, and if it’s only an hour, set a stopwatch and keep going.
[11:35] Positive Pressure
Without pressure, it’s way too easy to blow off writing or just not take it seriously. Deadlines are a great motivator. Working with a writing coach, joining a workshop or writing group gives you the positive pressure to move forward.
Link mentioned in this episode:
A Writer’s Time: Making the Time to Write by Kenneth Atchity
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