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How To Stick To Your Writing Schedule

By on December 24, 2016
How To Stick To Your Writing Schedule - Writer's Life.org

Having a writing schedule is incredibly important as a writer. Just as you get up every day, shower, have breakfast, get dressed and so on, so should your writing also become part of your daily routine.

If you have a good, realistic schedule that works for you then your writing will become just another habit that you do, almost without thinking about it. If you write erratically it can be far more challenging to get into the swing of things and stopping and starting all the time can make your life so much harder, and more likely, your writing quality will suffer too.

However, I don’t know a single fellow writer that has created a writing schedule for themselves from day one and stuck to it religiously!I am certainly guilty of starting each week determined to write consistently, at the same time each morning, and by about day three ‘life’ seems to have gotten in the way. It can be difficult for any writer regardless of whether they write full time or have to juggle another job on the side, to make sure that they always find time to write and stick to their schedule ever single day.

So how can we make ourselves better at this? Happily, there are some tricks you can try which can help you be more disciplined and actually enjoy it too!

Don’t think of your writing as an ‘option.'

If you really want this to work, you need to stop thinking of your writing as something that you can take or leave. If it’s important to you then you need to give yourself a good talking to! There are bound to be lots of things in your life that you treat as necessities. Going to work, cooking dinner, exercising, cleaning your house. Why do these things mean more to us then our writing? If you are anything like me, you leave your writing for too long and you end up feeling miserable and angry with yourself for letting it go. Only you can change this, so stop seeing it as ‘fake’ and give your writing the attention it deserves - you’ll feel a lot happier for it I'm sure!

Come up with a writing routine

Don’t create a writing schedule where you literally have exactly 30 minutes in between two stressful, pressing tasks to sit down and scribble out as much as you can. Let it be a pleasant experience. Have a lovely, calm writing space, with a plant in it, a comfy chair, and lots of light. Make yourself a vat of coffee, put on some music that inspires you. Whatever it is you do to get your head into that writing mindset, do that before you begin so you feel completely relaxed and tuned in to start the writing process.

Bury those distractions

Whatever it is that usually distracts you make sure you get it out of sight and mind before you begin writing. If you have a massive pile of ironing that’s begging to be sorted out, don’t sit in that room so it can tempt you. If you know you can’t help but check your phone every 5 minutes, turn it off. Make it as easy as possible to stay focused on your writing for the entire period you want to dedicate to it - you will have a much better chance of success this way.

Get competitive

Goal setting is a great way to keep you focused on your writing, and introducing a bit of healthy competition is useful too. Challenge your fellow writers to join you in writing a certain number of words every day, join online groups and discussions to keep you motivated, or find a local writing group who you can meet up with in person to share ideas and discuss your work.
There is only one thing that you need to do if you want to be a writer, and that’s write. Sticking to a writing schedule will help you to turn your writing into a habit where eventually it will feel like an inherent part of what you do. The more regular writing you do the better you will get at it, so don’t let yourself and your writing down and use these tips to make you more determined than ever to write every day.

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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