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Making the most of writing time is always a timely topic. Every writer will have their own answer to this.
What I think it is important to stress is how vital it is you do carve out time to write. It’s far too easy for that time to be taken up by marketing (useful but can be done at other times and without something to market there is no point). It’s far too easy to lose time to the charms of television (though I admit bar Doctor Who and Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, which was brilliant), most of those charms pass me by.
A huge killer of usual writing time for any author is the internet. Yes, I know. We do sometimes need it to check something out but how often does that lead to you then looking at something else and then something else again etc? I try to keep my research times separate from my writing times for this reason. It is too easy to fall into the rabbit hole of research, as I’ve heard it called.
What I want are specific times when I can just be creative.
The Positives to Planning Out Your Writing Time
I find doing this makes me focus on what I can do when. Instead of beating myself up when I can’t get much done, because the day is hectic, I know I will get small pieces of writing done and will use the limited time available to its best advantage.
I learned long ago to use those small periods of time available because whatever you write in these will build up over time. I’ve drafted novels this way and while they still have to see the light of day, I hope they will in some form at some point. What I gained from this though was discovering I could build up work over lots of limited time slots and therefore make the best of my time (always a useful skill to have, I think). I have since come across those who say they would write if only they had the time – many authors do. I usually smile politely in response!
Mind you, being guided by P.G. Wodehouse’s wonderful maxim Apply the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair (said to a would-be writer approaching him for advice) helps encourage me to get on with it as well. The man wasn’t wrong!
Also, you can’t use what you haven’t got, but you can reverse that and use what you do instead. Planning helps enormously here.For example, if I only have twenty minutes available, I can draft ideas for stories and blogs to follow up on later, maybe write a few lines of these too. Or I can complete a first draft of a flash fiction piece usually in that kind of time slot.
I know when these especially hectic days are coming up (usually) and so can plan my writing around them. I don’t waste time bewailing what I can’t do. I get on with what I know I can do. Isn’t that a much more positive approach?
So many writers, including me, have bouts of self doubt etc (from observation, I think this happens to a lot of creative types) so to my mind, I don’t want anything else to fret about. My time is something I can do something about (and nobody says it has to be perfect, it just has to work for me).
Having planned out what I’m going to do when, I get on and do it, which is another huge advantage. There is something about the act of writing my plan down which commits me to follow through on it, so I do.
The Negatives to Planning Out Your Writing Time
In the interests of balance, I thought I should add there are some negatives to planning out writing time. It can make you feel constricted. If you don’t like planning any writing, you may feel well you would rather just get on and create a story, rather than plan out when to do it. You could see the planning as a barrier to what you do. I see it as an aid but it does all depend on perspective.
The important thing with planning is to use it as a tool and to follow through on what you plan. It should never be used as a means of procrastination (but it could be).
Mixing Things Up
I know at certain points of the week I will have limited time to write. So I will mix up what I do with those time slots. For one of them, I may write flash fiction. For another I’ll jot down ideas. For another, I’ll finish a draft off. All of that keeps things interesting for me.
For my longer time slots, I will get the text of a post completed and that does include this one! I will also mix things up and aim to get the first draft of a short story done in another longer session. For yet another one, I will do a reasonable amount of marketing (because some creativity does come into that). Again all of these different things, using the time I’ve got wisely, keeps things interesting for me (and I hope some of that comes through to readers).
Conclusion
There is no one right way to write. I’ve learned different aspects to the craft from various courses, books, workshops, and other authors, but I have gained something useful from each of these.
There is no one right way to plan how to use your time (and not just for writing). I am, by nature, a planner so it makes sense to me to plan out my writing time and I have found I have got more written, more stories submitted to competitions and markets etc. It has also enabled me to work out yes, I can have an author newsletter because I can write snippets for it throughout the month before it is due out. It makes it easier to manage and to get out on the first of each month. I don’t have the last minute panic of having to find things to share with readers here.
It has taken me a long time to work this all out and to deduce what works best for me. Now I’ve found a good working method, and planning time available is a major key for me, I’ll stick to it unless I figure out something better later on.
The most important thing of all, whether you plan any writing, your writing time, or not?
Easy peasy that one!
It is to enjoy what you write. It is that enjoyment which will help keep you going no matter what.
Happy writing!
Related Posts:-
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
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