Writing When You Feel Like It

Commit to a regular writing time that works with your lifestyle – schedule it in and turn up.  The sooner you commit to a regular writing appointment, the sooner you’ll build a good writing habit and start moving your project towards completion. You’ll be normalising writing as part of your life and it will feel great.

Putting Your Writing at The Bottom of Your To-do List 

Try shifting your thinking about writing so it’s just another item on your to-do list rather than an unimportant “if I have time” item tacked on at the end.

Multi-tasking

When you’re writing – focus on writing.  When you’re researching – focus on researching etc, etc, etc.  Time blocking is your friend. Allocate time to your daily tasks and focus on them one by one rather than multi-tasking then spend that allocated time working solely on that task.  You can relax because everything on your list has its allocated time - including your writing time.

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Giving in To Alerts

Every time you pay attention to an alert and check your socials, texts or emails you are pulled away from your writing task – and then waste time getting back into it.  Check out this rather horrifying little nugget from an Unmistakable Creative article…

“Every time you’re interrupted by a person, checking email, a social feed, or respond to a notification, your mind requires 23 minutes of refocus time – just to get back on task! This doesn’t count the time you spend being distracted, this is just to get refocused again.”

Try silencing alerts and placing your phone in another room for the amount of time you want to write. 

Prioritising Non-urgent Tasks

Stop prioritising non-urgent tasks over your writing!  Put writing at the top of your to-do list rather than under the endless list of tasks. When you feel the pull of easy tasks, literally ask yourself this; what is more important to me – finishing my book/screenplay/poetry collection or having a tidy desk or folded laundry? Caving into easy, satisfying tasks feels good initially but so does the satisfaction gained from moving your project forward.

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