10 Ways to Find More Time to Write!

Whether you’re a full time writer or someone who just wants to give writing a try, these tips should help you find more time to write.

1. Get organized.

You’ll spend too much time looking for things if your office is a mess.

Clean off your desk and keep it cleaned off.

Create project folders for each of your larger projects and keep all your notes and other resource materials for each project in its own project folder.

2. Make decisions ahead of your actual writing time.

Decisions can zap your creativity energy.

So make as many decisions about WHAT and HOW to write something before you actually sit down to write.

The ideal time for making these decisions is when you’re working on your weekly marketing plan.

For example, instead of just putting “post to blog” on your schedule for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, spend some time figuring out WHAT you will blog about on those days.

Even give those posts jazzy titles like “Ten Ways to Keep Your Blog Posts Interesting” and you’ll not only know WHAT you need to write about for each specific day, you’ll also know HOW you’re going to write about (in this case, the post will be a list of 10 items).

3. For a nonfiction book or a novel – work from an outline.

That’s how writers who work on assignment for book packagers, mass market publishers, and other series publishers get so many books written in a year.

They make a very detailed outline first.

Then, the actual writing time is spent filling in that outline with scenes (that include plenty of dialogue and action) and connecting those scenes with interesting and important narrative.

4. Let go of activities that take your time but offer you no real benefits in return.

If you joined a critique group years ago and now it’s turned into little more than an enjoyable social club, drop it.

You can make better use of that time writing!

You can rejoin these groups later, once you’ve got some big writing projects out of the way OR (and better yet) you can join new groups that have more to offer you now.

5. Do many of your morning chores the night before.

Early morning is prime writing time for many writers.

If you love to write in the early morning, but you need to make breakfast, get kids ready for school, pack lunches, etc., do most of those activities the night before.

Help the kids lay out their clothes and school stuff for the next day, make lunches and freeze them, and set the table for breakfast.

The kids can sleep a little later in the morning and you can use that time to write!

6. Outsource as many activities as you can.

If you can afford to – HIRE someone to clean the house.

Hire a neighborhood teen to come entertain and babysit your kids for a couple of afternoons each week while you write.

Get your spouse to do the grocery shopping or run some of the weekly errands while you write.

7. Train your kids to work alongside you while you write.

Set aside 30 minutes to an hour a day (depending of the ages of your children) for writing for both you and your kids.

Get the kids each a nice notebook or pad of paper, some colored pencils or markers, a nice pen, and tell them they need to write every day just like you do.

Set a kitchen timer and have everyone sit down at the kitchen or dining room table to write.

The only rule is each person needs to be quiet so everyone can concentrate.

At the end of the set time, let your children share their work with you.

This not only gives YOU more writing time, it gives you quality time with your kids and helps them become more literate.

8. Hang out with other PRODUCTIVE writers.

The key word here is “productive.”

Many people say they are writers, yet they never seem to write anything.

You want to hang out with writers who actually produce some work.

You’ll learn more tips from them.

Plus, you’ll see how they don’t make excuses.

They simply get the writing done.

You’ll learn to make writing a priority.

This doesn’t mean you always have to put writing first.

But you’ll become more comfortable doing it every now and then when you have a big project to complete.

9. When people ask you what you do, tell them you’re a writer.

Simply saying this confidently will make you take your writing more seriously so you’ll start squeezing in more writing time each day.

10. Set specific writing goals for each writing session.

This can be part of your weekly marketing plan and daily to-do list.

With definite writing goals you’ll be more likely to get some actual work done and the time you do spend writing will be more productive.

For example, plan to write one scene for your novel during today’s writing session.

Tomorrow, plan to finish that magazine article you’ve been working on.

The next day, spend 30 minutes preparing an outline for your next article.

Try these tips and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much more writing time you find every day.

Now…to be a more productive writer, read this!