Finding The Time And Discipline To Write

“Forcing yourself to write is like forcing yourself to run. Once you get into it, you love it, and you wonder why you resisted.” Natalie Goldberg

Writing is simple but it's not easy. Getting black on white can sometimes seem like the hardest thing in the world to achieve, and yet we are nothing without words on a page. Getting them down takes time, and setting the time aside usually takes discipline at first, until we develop a creative habit.

Even then, there are tough days.

This is an excerpt from The Successful Author Mindset. Available now in ebook, print and audiobook formats.

Here's an excerpt from my journal in 2014:

“Today has been a difficult day. I procrastinated when I should have been writing. I emailed instead of creating things. I did busywork and admin that didn't achieve much. I spent time on Twitter instead of writing. I bet Stephen King wouldn't behave like this. He would sit at his desk and write something new. Today I am a tired, disillusioned misery. But tomorrow I will be an author again. I promise.”

We will always have times like these, and the challenge to find time is a daily struggle. There are also increasing demands on a writer's time.

• Should you attend this summit or do this online course?
• Should you build your author platform and start blogging or podcasting?
• Should you spend time on social media building relationships and finding readers even before your book is done?

There are pros and cons with all of these ways to spend time, but ultimately, writers write, they don't just talk (or tweet or blog or Facebook or Instagram) about writing.

If you don't make the time to write the words for your books, you are the only one who suffers, as I did in the journal excerpt above. If you keep avoiding making the time to write, you will feel like a failure. You'll wonder what you're doing with your life. You'll be disappointed at your lack of progress.

The only person who will beat you up about your writing is yourself, and you are the only one who can make the time.

Antidote

I'm pretty sure you know what you have to do, but here are my tips:

How much do you really want this?

Everyone has the same amount of time and you can usually tell what people value by how they spend it. Of course, you have to balance a day job and family commitments, but if you have a free hour, what do you do with it?

My own turning point came when I fully committed to the writing path. I never really enjoyed my consulting job, but I stuck it out for many years, thinking that it was just what I had to do to get by.

It was only when I was crying at work and wondering what the hell I was doing with my life, that my motivation became large enough to overcome my excuses. Instead of staying in bed in the morning, I got up at 5am to write, learn and build my platform.

When I got home after work, I didn't watch TV, but read books on writing, creative business and online marketing. At the weekends, I ducked out of social arrangements in order to have a whole day to work on my writing. Then I told my boss I only wanted to work four days a week and negotiated a 20% reduction in hours and income so I could have that extra day.

Three years later, I left my day job because I had built a sustainable creative business.

But only because I really wanted it and I made the time.

So how much do you want it?

Diarize your writing time

Book an appointment with yourself, as you would with a business or personal meeting. Don't just think, “Oh, I'll find 20 mins sometime today.” Get your planner out and schedule 20 mins or an hour, or whatever you can, at a specific time. Set a timer if necessary.

If you're a parent, I bet you schedule your kid's activities. And for your day job, I bet you schedule appointments at specific times. You certainly schedule social engagements and you probably even schedule the gym. So why not take your writing just as seriously?

When you're in front of the page or keyboard, stay there. Setting a goal around word count or a deadline in terms of time completed can help. Don't get up until you have something to show for your time. That may be structure or story ideas or research notes or first draft writing, but get something down.

Until you get into the practice of producing words on the page, you will struggle.

To get those ideas down, you have to just give it a go and write words. What happens next? What do I want to say? Just write something and edit it later.

“What people say they want and what they're willing to work their ass off to get are two different things.” Hugh MacLeod

This is an excerpt from The Successful Author Mindset. Available now in ebook, print and audiobook formats.