How To Find The Time To Write 80,000* Words

Finding the time to write is one of the hardest parts of writing and when you look at the massive scope of a novel as a whole - it's a lot of words.

Sure when you look at the scope of it as a whole it can seem like a daunting and impossible task, like climbing a mountain when you're standing at its base, but the goal of this article is to show you that with planning and prioritization, it's possible to find the time to write even with the busiest of schedules. 

Set Clear Writing Goals 

When you set out to write your novel, you're not looking at reaching the goal in one day, this would be an unrealistic goal and would only set you up for failure. 

Take the overall goal of the word count and break it down into smaller, more achievable goals. 

Determine how many words you can realistically find the time to write over a given period whether that be in a day, a week, or even a month. 

Breaking the goal down into manageable chunks, makes the writing process feel less daunting and more achievable. 

Plus, you can celebrate each time you achieve a goal, and who doesn't like a reason to celebrate? 

Find Where Writing Fits In Your Schedule 

The way to find where writing can fit into your busy life is to find where you can make it a priority. 

The time to write isn't going to shine over you in a golden light and tell you that it's time to write. 

Sometimes you have to push something aside and make the time to write. 

Choose to write over watching that TV show you've been binging. 

Choose to write during your lunch break at work. 

Choose to write instead of scrolling mindlessly through your phone. 

Find the parts of your day where you can rearrange or eliminate the non-essential tasks to make writing fit into your schedule. 

It doesn't even have to be very long. It's entirely possible to write a novel even if you only have ten minutes to write. Just make sure you are using those ten minutes to write, and not just think about whether or not you should write. 

Make It As Easy As Possible 

It's not just the busy schedule that keeps most writers from finding the time to write - it's the procrastination and the effort of having to write. 

Say you just got home from work and you collapsed on the couch. You're thinking about writing, but the laptop is upstairs and if you go upstairs you'll want to shower. The TV remote is right there, it would take no effort to grab that and start watching that new episode of that show you like. 

Solution - put your laptop in front of the couch before work. If it's right in front of you the effort to start is almost none. Then you just need to choose to write instead of reaching for the remote. Maybe leave the remote in a high place so it would take more effort to get a stool and reach it than it would be to just open your laptop and write. 

Almost as important as making writing easy, you may have to make the more alluring things harder. When I was writing on a deadline and couldn't stop myself from scrolling through social media I put each app that could have distracted me in a password-locked folder in my phone and let my sister pick the password. I don't think even the CIA could have hacked it. 

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Finding the time to write a novel can seem like a daunting task, but just like climbing that mountain, it's doable with the right mindset and effort. 

Take each day one at a time, write when you can, and make time to write when you feel that you can't.

You'll get there in the end. 

Now go write, in the time it took you to read this article you could have written a paragraph or two. 

With love, 

B.K. xo xo 

*80,000 words is a rough estimate for a novel, your word count may differ depending on your genre.*

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This story was originally posted on Medium.

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