This Time It's Personal

Personal time is one of the most important and therefore underrated parts of the writing process, dear reader. Without it you’re unable to focus on expressing the intricacies of your narrative, reducing your writing to so much empty masturbation. Regardless of whether you require absolute silence or the bustle of a coffee shop to focus the fact is you need to in order for your writing to be any good. Hell, even if you’re not so much focusing as simply vomiting words onto the page with the whimsical ease of a soft summer breeze the very act of writing requires a certain mental presence, an intent of purpose. 

That said, take your time. No really.

I’ve talked to people who’ve expressed a certain guilt about writing in their allotted “writing time” as they think they should be cleaning, cooking, or otherwise catching up on other projects. The solution to this is simple, dear reader: plan, execute, and be greedy.

Bear with me here:

1.            Plan

Set a personal goal for yourself of how much you want to write in a week. An important part of this step is to be realistic with yourself. Chances are you’re not equipped to write a tome equal in length to War and Peace in two hours on a lazy Sunday morning. Maybe your goal is half a page. Maybe you just want to crank out two hundred words or even a couple of sentences. Whatever it is, have that goal in mind and work it into your schedule. Prioritize those little things (cooking and cleaning etc) throughout the week and try to have them done ahead of your “writing time” so your mind is at ease once you sit down to start writing.

2.            Execute

Now that you’ve actually made the plan in step one, stick to it (adjusting as necessary. Life happens). It’s just that easy and it’s just that hard.

3.            Be Greedy

As mentioned above, life happens. You’re going to have good weeks and you’re going to have bad. Hell, sometimes life is gonna kick you in the goolies so hard you’re going to want to puke. It happens. The important thing is that you try to stick to your plan as much as possible, and make those weeks where you don’t get any writing done be the exception and not the rule. Learn to make writing a relaxing part of your day, something to look forward to! Guard your writing time jealously, avoiding any possible distractions (at least for an allotted time if you’re really new to this). Don’t look at your phone. Don’t watch TV. If you need background noise don’t put on anything too interesting.

Hopefully these three (sort of) easy steps will help you better allocate some time to writing. Regardless of how you do it I cannot recommend it enough that you do. Personal time, even not devoted to writing, can improve your writing in a myriad of ways. When you have time to relax, decompress from a hard work week or life event, your mind can reward you by unravelling a difficult plot point, offering an insight, or recognizing a plot hole you’d previously glossed over.

Treat yourself right as you write.

And remember: it’s a marathon, not sprint.