Very few writers can afford to do nothing but write. Many have full-time jobs and other responsibilities. After all, bills need to be paid and food brought to the table.
It’s tough to find an opportunity to solely focus on your writing. With so much going on in your life and so little time, how do you make the most of it? Let’s explore how you can write more effectively, even with limited time at your disposal.
Reasons Behind Your Limited Writing Time
The first step to finding time to write is identifying what’s currently taking up your time in the first place. Once you’ve done that, it’ll be easier to learn what you can cut back or where to squeeze in your writing.
Full-time Job Commitments
Most people have 9-5 jobs that consume most of their days. Your energy, focus, and creativity might be drained by the end of the day. When that happens, it is easy to push your writing to the back burner. Even if you push through, it might be difficult to be creative when all you want to do is rest.
Personal Relationships
Humans are social creatures. Maintaining your social responsibilities will take a lot of your time, whether it is caring for your family, doing chores, or attending to other obligations. It’s not just about finding time; it’s also about having energy and focus after fulfilling these roles.
Mental and Physical Exhaustion
Jobs and responsibilities aside, you also naturally accumulate mental and physical exhaustion daily. This exhaustion makes it hard for you to switch to creative mode, leading to procrastination or giving up. If you do finally become ready to write, you might already be too tired to write effectively.
Self-care
Writing is a mentally taxing craft. Sometimes, all you want and need is to rest and relax without thinking much. Particularly after getting exhausted from your job and other responsibilities. And when you’re in this mental state, you won’t be able to write. In any case, releasing that stress is essential to having a happy, healthy, and sustainable life.
Actionable Tips
Despite the challenges above, it’s possible to carve out time for your writing. The key lies in shifting your mindset and adopting efficient strategies. Done properly, you’ll be able to balance your social life, work, other responsibilities, and writing career.
Let’s take a look at what you can do to make the most of your limited writing time.
1. Accept your time restraints.
Instead of stressing over the time you don’t have, focus on maximizing the time that you have. You can always find ways to increase that time later, but you won’t improve if you don’t take control of what you have now.
Remember, progress always trumps perfection. A short session of focused, intentional, and high-quality writing is a step forward. If you’re consistent, these efforts will add up over time.
2. Set realistic writing goals.
Consider how much writing time you have and set your goals accordingly. Telling yourself to write a thousand words within 15 minutes is setting yourself up for failure.
Break down your big goals into smaller, more manageable steps. Instead of aiming to “write a book,” start with “write a chapter.” Then divide it further to “write a single page each session.” This makes your task less overwhelming and helps you maintain steady progress.
3. Find your writing time.
Everyone has a certain time of day where they feel more alert and creative. Discover when yours is. Experiment with different times of day to learn when you are most productive. Set that time aside exclusively for your writing.
4. Create a routine.
A routine is helpful because it creates consistency and discipline, which are crucial to progress. When that routine becomes a habit, your mind and body naturally expect and prepare themselves for writing. Now you won’t need to rely heavily on inspiration to get in the zone.
Additionally, a routine minimizes decision fatigue. When you know when and where to write, you eliminate the need to stress over whether to write or not.
5. Remove distractions.
You need to focus on what you’re writing. Remove or minimize distractions so they won’t interrupt your creative process. These distractions can come from your environment (noise, other people, your phone) or your mind (stressing over unfinished work).
Sometimes you don’t have a choice but to work within these distractions. For example, parents can’t simply pause taking care of small children. A workaround would be to write when they’re asleep and secure in their beds.
6. Prioritize your writing tasks.
Start your writing sessions with a plan. Identify which writing task is most important and focus on them first. If you don’t create a hierarchy for these tasks, chances are you’ll write without direction.
You could dedicate one session to outlining, another to research, and so on. This way, you focus on one aspect of your piece at a time. It’s also easier to keep track of your progress this way.
7. Combine writing with your daily activities.
Multitasking allows you to make progress in your writing without needing extra time. Integrate your writing into your activities that don’t require much brainpower.
Record your thoughts with a voice memo app while on a walk. Brainstorm ideas while doing household chores. Write down a few paragraphs during commutes or lunch breaks. Multitasking this way allows you to make progress in your writing without needing extra time.
8. Limit your editing.
Separate your writing process from your editing process. Doing both at the same time is not only inefficient but also confuses your writing.
If you only have a short time to write, you shouldn’t distract yourself with every error you commit. Focus on getting your ideas down first. Polishing them can be done later.
9. Get techy.
Leverage technology to boost your writing efficiency. There are plenty of tools you can use to be a better writer.
Grammar software can quickly identify technical errors. Online dictionaries and thesauruses help you find alternative words and phrases. Voice-to-text is useful when your mind is rapid-firing ideas but your fingers can’t type as fast or are occupied.
10. Sacrifice
Sometimes, the only way to find time for writing is by sacrificing another activity that’s currently taking up that time. The trick is to find which activity you can reduce or eliminate.
You likely can’t take time away from work or family obligations, and sacrificing sleep isn’t sustainable. However, trimming 15 minutes from your hobbies or leisure activities can be a viable option.
Balancing Writing and Real Life
Writing with a busy schedule is tough, but not impossible. Every successful writer has faced the same time constraints you’re dealing with right now.
In the end, it’s all about making the most of whatever time you have. And as you progress and meet more success, you’ll be able to afford more time to write.
Shift your mindset and leverage the tools and strategies you can use. Most importantly, keep writing consistently if you ever want to reach your writing goals one day.
How do you make the most of your limited writing time? Share your thoughts below!
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
- 11 Things Good Writers Do: The Writing Habits of Successful Authors
- How to Write Faster: 9 Jedi Mind Tricks to Get More Written in Less Time
- Should You Write Slower?
- 8 Tips for Concise Writing: How to Write Clearly and Effectively
Cole is a blog writer and aspiring novelist. He has a degree in Communications and is an advocate of media and information literacy and responsible media practices. Aside from his interest in technology, crafts, and food, he’s also your typical science fiction and fantasy junkie, spending most of his free time reading through an ever-growing to-be-read list. It’s either that or procrastinating over actually writing his book. Wish him luck!
