SloMo WriNo: Finding the Perfect Time to Write
Imagine your perfect writing setting. It’s peaceful and perfect, and the words flow easily.
But reality intrudes. Those perfect moments are hard to find, and, when you find them it can be too much pressure, so the words won’t come. Other times, when the inspiration is strong, and words are ready to pour out of you, you have no time or space to write.
It seems impossible to find both the time and inspiration to write at the same time!
That’s because it is.
To have a consistent long term writing practice, you cannot rely on perfect moments or bursts of inspiration.
I’m going to discuss inspiration in a later post, for now let’s focus on finding the time to write, in less than perfect times and places.
For me, I used to write whenever I could, just squeezing writing time whenever. And I was pretty inconsistent in how much I wrote, and didn’t get much finished.
When I decided I wanted to write a novel I knew I needed to get more organized.
I happen to be something of a morning person, and wake up about half an hour before I actually need to get up. I was in the habit of using that time to lie in bed reading, checking messages, scrolling socials etc. It seemed like a no-brainer to optimize that morning time to write.
However, when I tried, I found that I couldn’t stick with it for more than a couple of days at a time. I was frequently breaking my concentration, and easily distracted. And it felt like a grind. Eventually I realized that I simply did not want to write immediately after waking up. (and my ADHD brain will sabotage any attempt to force myself.) See, even though I’m a morning person, it doesn’t mean that I’m ready to do heavy mental lifting when I first awake. Time for quiet, more passive activities are an important part of me transitioning from sleep to full wakefulness.
But wait! Here I am at 6:30 am writing this! Happily! On a Sunday no less! Because I figured out a work around. Another look at my schedule showed me that I had another block of seemingly unused time. The later evenings after my kids are in bed. I’d dismissed that time period because I’m generally too brain tired to do anything productive. The solution was to use that time for sleeping (boring I know) enabling me to wake earlier, keep my gradual wake up routine, and still have time to write.
Strangely enough, knowing that I’m going to write in the morning is incentivising for me, and I find that I simply don’t want to stay up as late anymore. Because I have a fun reason (yes, writing is fun!) to go to sleep.
Now this little story might be helpful for you if you’d like to write first thing in the morning. If the idea feels like torture, then perhaps not.
But the idea is, assess your daily time, and cut something that isn’t refreshing or valuable. And possibly jiggle your schedule around so that you can open up a block of writing time at a time that is good for you.
For me that was the mindless doom scrolling or binge watching that I tend to indulge in after 10pm.
Some times that might work for you (besides the obvious first thing in the morning or last thing before bed): Commute time, Arriving at work or school or other daily appointments early, lunch or other break times in your day, time while you’re waiting. Remember, you’re not looking for massive blocks of time. Fifteen minutes will do. Thirty minutes would be amazing.
So examine your schedule and see where you can block out a regular time to write.
Once you’ve found a few options, try them out. Do you feel good, or harried? Tired or refreshed? If it doesn’t feel right, is there another task you can swap into the time slot to open up a different spot in your schedule?
Which leads us to the question: does this mean I need to write every single day?
Absolutely not. Take rest days when you need them. Either a scheduled day or two each week, or just a floating flex day taken when needed.
Focus on establishing a habit of writing for at least fifteen minutes 5-6 days a week. (And don’t worry about word counts too much while you’re figuring this out.)
Once you create a habit, the words will come!
— Maree
SloMo Wrino Introduction
Setting Word Count Goals
the WIP Project discord
