How to Prioritize Writing in a Busy Life
No time to write? Think again. This is a common misconception usually based on a lack of clarity surrounding what writing really means to you. “No time” isn’t really about time. It’s about perspective. Even the busiest people can prioritize writing—because writing is what they really want to do.
Yes, it’s a mindset hack. This means you have to know a lot about who you are in your real-world life, who you are in your writing life, and who you want to become in both lives. The gap in between is a playground of growth and evolution all for you.
In this article, I give you three methods to help you prioritize writing in your busy life. Then I follow up with additional tips to support you through the bumps and turns that tend to crop up in our day-to-day lives.
Ready? Let’s hop to it!
WHAT’S THE REAL PROBLEM?
“I have no time to write” is just one of many common excuses struggling writers express. Other top struggles include self-doubt, lack of knowledge/experience/skill, lack of a support system, and loss of motivation.
I get that it feels like you don’t have time to write or that you might feel overwhelmed by the scope of your story—but those aren’t the real problems.
Those are misbeliefs that stem from a lack of clarity on what writing means to you.
Here’s some tough love. Writing isn’t easy, and it’s not a straightforward gig. The learning curve is massive. The journey is cluttered with bumps and pitfalls. There is no “one strategy fits all” approach to writing a story. Success requires blood, sweat, and tears. More writers quit than stick it out.
While I believe that anyone can be a writer, I also believe that not everyone is willing or able to put forth the effort to stay committed to the journey. I think it’s because a lot of people embark on a writing journey without a full understanding of what it really, truly entails. It’s definitely a shock to the system.
But the struggle affects all writers. When they hit writer’s block, or get stuck in the weeds of a tangled plot, or lose motivation because they have to write another draft, again—they have a choice.
Quit or Try again.
Writers who are clear on what writing means to them are more likely to try again. They’re the ones who have a support system to lean on. They’re the ones who know how to take healthy breaks from their WIPs. They’re the ones who want to learn and grow and improve.
They’re the ones who figured out how to prioritize writing.
WHAT DOES WRITING MEAN TO YOU?
Get clear, very clear on this. Basically, this is akin to “Why are you a writer? Why do you want to write stories?”
There’s no right or wrong answer, just your honest answer. If it’s because you want to be a #1 NYT bestselling author, then own that. If it’s because you want to help readers who might have grown up in a dysfunctional family, then own that.
Once you know what writing means to you, then you can begin constructing ways to prioritize it in your life. Without the “meaning” behind the work you have to do, it’s really hard to convince yourself to sit down daily and work on a problematic draft.
CHANGE YOUR PERSPECTIVE TOWARD WRITING
Prioritizing your writing means it’s just as important to sit down for your regularly scheduled session as it is to make dinner for the family, take a shower, pick up your kiddo from soccer practice, or get to your 9-5 job on time.
However, many writers find it difficult to list “writing” in their priorities if they’re not getting paid, if they’re not published, or if they’re just starting out.
A shift needs to be made in your attitude regarding writing. As long as you belittle the act of writing, or your writing goals, then you’ll always struggle to fit it into your life.
How to do this will vary from writer to writer. I have some suggestions that may help. Because each person is different and each lifestyle is unique, it’s important to find the method that resonates with you, on a deeply personal level.
METHOD 1.| UNDERSTAND THAT WRITING IS VITAL TO YOUR EVERYDAY HEALTH
Intentional writers with specific Dream Goals need to honor their creative impulses on a regular basis. When they don’t or can’t write, they suffer emotionally, mentally, and/or physically. That’s because creativity is part of who they are, it’s part of their life source. When it goes ignored, they feel the ramifications.
I learned this a long time ago. When things were so freakishly nuts in my life, I gave up writing. After a period of time, I began to get sick. Fast-forward to me picking the writing back up and my health improved.
Coincidence? Maybe. But because I knew enough about what writing means to me, I recognized that I wasn’t nurturing my creative self and it became malnourished.
So I made a shift in my mindset. Just like I don’t want to make myself sick by eating crappy food, I don’t want to make myself sick by not writing.
Once I made that connection, it became easy to fit writing into my daily life. I haven’t looked back since. This method works for me because of how deeply and passionately I love writing, and because I get so much joy from the entire gig—even when a story is giving me a hard time. The challenge simply fuels me.
METHOD 2.| MAKE WRITING A HABIT
Building a habit takes something like three weeks (at least, that’s what the so-called experts say). It’s one reason why new year’s resolutions don’t always last—people are looking for quick results, and when that doesn’t happen, they give up on their resolution.
So, for this to work, you need to be someone who’s okay with the waiting, who doesn’t need instant gratification, who gets satisfaction or fulfillment from the process rather than the end results.
Look at your healthiest habits that you already engage in. Do you floss your teeth daily? Do you exercise daily? Do you get a full eight hours of sleep nightly? (Of course, this is subjective. I think eating pepperoni pizza once a week is a perfectly fine healthy habit, but that’s just me.)
Find a habit that you do without fail. Ask yourself why you commit to this habit every day. The “why” is vital as it’s the reason you stick with it, even if you’re not consciously thinking it. Use those answers to help you make writing a daily (or, at least, regular habit).
METHOD 3.| MAKE WRITING A RESPONSIBILITY
You may or may not know, but writing is a job. It’s work. At least, it is for intentional writers who have Dream Goals. For hobby writers, not so much, but they’re probably not reading this post if writing was just a hobby.
Look at your current real-world life and highlight the tasks or duties that you never miss. If you’re a stay-at-home parent, then your day is filled with responsibilities that you must handle, otherwise your kids suffer. If you work a 9-5 job outside the house, then it’s probably safe to assume getting to work on time is a responsibility you take seriously.
Again, this is a mindset hack. You need to view writing as a job to position it in importance equal to packing school lunches or working after-hours to fine-tune a presentation for the meeting with your boss.
Try scheduling your writing sessions in a calendar. Set an alert on your phone. Turn your writing space into an office setting. Dress for your writing sessions like you would for a company job. “Clock out” for your lunch break and step away from the writing and get some fresh air. Ask your housemates to treat you in your writing space as if you’re at a job where you can’t be disturbed by mundane questions.
Some of these suggestions might feel over the top. In my opinion, going all out is worth it if you’re serious about prioritizing your writing in a busy life. This kind of shift doesn’t happen magically from the ether.
You have to put determination, hard work, and ferocity into your effort.
That’s where the magic sparks.
How to Sustain Writing Over the Long Haul
Once you find a method that resonates with you, the next hurtle is to keep it going. Usually, excitement from starting a writing practice will keep you energized in the early stages. Eventually, the act of writing is going to lose its “newness”. The honeymoon period is over, and now the real work begins.
Just because you made the shift in your mindset doesn’t mean that shift is permanent and will never be challenged. Even mindset needs regular tune-ups and the occasional tinkering to be sure it’s operating on all cylinders.
Below are some additional tips you can apply every day in whatever fashion that makes sense to you.
MAKE TIME TO WRITE. The key word here is “MAKE”. You don’t “find” time like it’s a pair of earrings you lost. Making time means you need to know where in your day you can dedicate your writing—and nothing else.
For anyone who honestly doesn’t know where in the day or night you could possibly make the time to write, I highly recommend tracking your time for at least two weeks. This will be annoying and a PITA, but it works like a charm. You’ll be surprised at the gaps in your day where you could either be writing or shifting tasks around to open up a larger window of time.
EVEN 15 MINUTES COUNT. Life has a way of not going to plan. Sometimes, your writing session will be disrupted by things you have to deal with, like sick family members or flooding in the basement. Fifteen minutes can still give you space to draft, outline, daydream, or pick apart a scene.
RITUALS. Tack on a warm-up ritual at the beginning of your writing session. Select two or three small activities that you can do as a way of signaling to your Muse that you’re ready to rock-and-write. Meditation, playlists, candles, tea – anything that comforts you and helps you into the writer headspace. You can create a closing ritual as well—get creative in a way that makes the entire writing session an experience.
JOURNALING. This is a great way to help you hash out your thoughts about your writing process. You could add journaling to your closing ritual—explore how the day’s session went and what your take-aways are for next time. This information can be valuable especially if you’re struggling with something but can’t quite put your finger on what the problem is. Journaling also works as a marvelous record-keeper for your writing progress. This is how I figured out my natural writing forces, and it also helped me find the strength to keep going when the chips were down.
OUTLINE YOUR IDEAS. If you don’t have a lot of extra time to warm-up for your writing session, and you want to maximize the time you do have, then keep a running outline of your ideas. Use a notebook or a digital document, and you can refer to it to help jumpstart your creativity.
YOUR WHY. Keep your purpose, your why, front and center. Make it a part of your regular writing practice. You could recite it out loud in your warm-up ritual, include it in a meditation, post it somewhere in your writing habitat, write it in your journal, whatever.
YOUR WHY, TODAY. Piggybacking off number six, you could focus on your why for the day’s session. “Why am I writing today? What do I want to accomplish today? Why is that important?”
BOUNDARIES. Announce your schedule of writing sessions to anyone who lives with you and to anyone who might call you, text you, etc. You must protect your sessions. If you don't set boundaries--and adhere to them--why would anyone else? If you're not going to respect and honor your time to write, no one else will either.
Part of this includes setting up your habitat for success. Turn off your phone or put it in another room entirely. Mute all notifications on your computer and all digital devices. Close your door. Put a sign on your door “Writer at Work. Do Not Disturb.” If you must write in a common space shared by others, then it’s important to negotiate the time you need. Ask your housemates to either not be home or to not walk through the room you’re in for that designated period.
ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER. Find a trusted friend or family member who can check in on your writing progress. You can set this up in whatever way that makes sense to you and what you need.
WRITE FROM THE HEART. Sure, there will be phases and stages of writing that feel boring, annoying, tedious, discouraging, crummy—but it’s much easier to push through all of that sludge when you’re writing with heartfelt intention. Even skills-based practicing is easier when your heart’s in it. If you’re going through the motions, or writing a story about glow-in-the dark sirens because they’re trending but you really can’t stand sirens, then what’s the point? And if there’s little point, how do you expect to prioritize the writing in your life?
Writing is one of the most rewarding jobs out there, but it’s also one of the most demanding and complicated. It isn’t easy to prioritize writing on a good day, let alone a crummy day. But if you can get clear on the root of what writing means to you, then it’ll be easier to learn how to fit it into your lifestyle so that you can become the writer you dream to be!
Thank you so much for reading. Have a writerly day!