Using No to Make More Time to Write

Making the time to write isn't always a matter of just sitting down and writing. It often means saying no to a lot of other things, things you may really want to do. It isn't a choice between 'scrub the grout in my shower' or write. More often than not, it's 'play this new game I'm excited about' or write. It's a eries of scarficies made. But how do you get to the point where that feels doable? Here are some things that have helped me find my way to putting writing first. As always, your mileage may vary, so take what works for you and leave the rest. 

1. Write out a list of all the things vying for your time. 
See what all is on there. You can make this as exhaustive as you want. Include all the nitty-gritty like grocery shopping, bathroom cleaning, etc., if you want to, but it works just as well with only the big things on your list. Your family, friends, favorite TV shows, favorite games or other hobbies, everything that calls to you. 

2. Prioritize the list. 
Be ruthless if you have to. For me, that's meant that I keep up on very, very, very few shows anymore. I made the commitment that writing was more important than having seen the latest Games of Thrones episode. For you, maybe that means that you only go to game night with your friends every other week. Figure out what you're willing to sacrifice now so you don't have to figure that out in the moment. 

3. Commit to it. 
If you decide that once every other week for games is all you can manage, tell your friends and stick to it. It's going to be hard for a while, but it will slowly become a habit and take less willpower to do. Write out what you'll say to yourself about putting your writing first, give yourself support. Future you will thank you. 

4. Forgive yourself when you screw up. 
A bad day at the day job can send you into a Netflix marathon without much of a thought. That's okay. Beating yourself about it, isn't going to make it any better. In fact, beating yourself up is only going to make it harder to get back to the writing. 

5. Do not sacrifice things required for a healthy life. 
I know there's a #goals around not sleeping and hustling harder, but that is not a great way to live. Sacrifcing your health is not the answer. 


Taking time now to commit 100% to your writing is the way forward and the way to help keep your writing going. I'm not going to say it won't require sacrifice, because it will. Right now I've not watched American Gods, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Daredevil, The Handmaid's Tale, Blackish, and on and on and on because that is what I've decided to sacrifice to make the time to write. 
But you can do it! 

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Avoiding Research Quick Sand

Research can be a vital part of writing. Whether you're writing a historical novel or a science fiction dystopia, you'll need to do research to help make your writing the best it can be. But a big problem can be getting so sucked into doing research that you never actually get any writing done. So where's the line between researching enough and researching too much?
Well, as always, there's no perfect answer for everyone, but here's what helps me. 


1. Start broadly. 
If you only know vaguely what you'll need, start broadly. Writing about space? Start with a general book, a textbook for instance, and poke around. Take notes, see what sticks in your mind. You may find something that suddenly adds a whole new interesting elements to add in. Things you never even knew about! Take lots of notes, read the references and see if any of those sound great. 

2. Utilize your library. 
If you have access to a library, use it! Ask for help with your research. Librarians are made of magic and awesome and most would love to help you find the perfect book to answer all your weird little writerly questions.

3. Don't buy all the books. 
This is my biggest problem. I decide to research something and the next thing I know, I've got 15 new books sitting on the floor and no idea where to even start. Begin with books you can borrow, check them out and see what you need. 

4. Outline. 
An outline will help you see if you're going to have specific questions. Train fight? You're going to need to read about some trains, better know that now and get the research a-rolling. Prepare in advance and you'll save yourself a lot of effort in the future. Take care of your future self by preparing now. 

5. Set a research time limit. 
Give yourself a set amount of time to do your research: a week, a month, a day, whatever amounts feels right for you. Then stick to it. I know it'll be super tempting to research 'just one more thing' but stick to your goal or you might get stuck in the research forever zone and never write. 

6. Make notes as you write. 
Start writing and then keep notes about questions that pop up while you're writing. This can be in the document itself (I like to leave notes to myself with xxx to make them easy to find later), in a seperate notebook or word document, or on a whiteboard somewhere nearby. Just don't let the questions totally derail you. They will pop up and that's okay. The first draft doesn't have to be perfect or have all the history exactly right. 

And that's what helps me stay on track to actually write and not get stuck in a research loop. 

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Little Rebel, Write However You Want

Sometimes I think there might be more writing advice out on the interwebs than there are actually stories. Everywhere you look, you can find some new tip or trick that supposedly will make you a better writer. The ideas vary wildly from using no technology to using nothing but technology. There are people who get up at 4am to write and people who stay up until 4am to write. There are those who writ every day and those who write in bursts and then don't write again for days. 


For a long time I thought that there had to be some secret for writing. Something that would make writing suddenly super easy and always succusful. I dove into every writing guide I could get my hands on, read every blog post, tried every tip and trick I could get my greedy little hands on. And I hated it. I felt like I never was doing enough, was never writing 'correctly'. I always felt like I was failing some final exam and any moment, someone was going to snatch my laptop for me and tell me to stop faking it. 


I stopped writing for a while and that was just as miserable. I longed to write but I remained scared on how to actually going about getting it down on page. Until I realized the very simple, no duh moment that it didn't matter. How I got the words onto page didn't matter. What mattered is that I wrote. I didn't have to make the process this grand scary thing that required a certain candle to be lit at a certain time. All that mattered was writing. Even if I wrote horrible crap that no one would ever see the world wouldn't end. 


I'd built the process of writing up so much in my head that fear paralyzed me. I worried about somehow getting it 'wrong' and ruining everything. 

But the process only need to have one step: write. 

Now I'm not afraid to try different things, to play with my process and take the time to learn what works and doesn't work for me. I've realized there is no one way to write that matches for everyone. There are a variety of ways to write and no shame in doing what works for you. You don't have to write like Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Roxanne Gay or anyone else writes. You can build it your own way, you rebel you. 

All you have to remember is to get your words on the page.