![]() Turn your phone to Do Not Disturb or airplane mode. Once you are in the location at the specified time, make sure you won't be disturbed. The point is to find somewhere you can focus on your book. ![]() It was the only way I could fit creative time in before my brain was taken over by the job. I used to write in the London Library when we lived there, and when I had a day job in Australia, I would write from 5 am in the spare room in our house. Of course, you could use a library or an office space at work if you go in early. If I'm dictating a draft, I book a room in a local co-working space and create there.īoth of these options cost some money, but the act of getting out of the house and committing to a different location can make all the difference in getting you to write. I drink one black coffee per hour, leaving when it starts to get busy so they can use the table for higher-paying customers. I wear noise-canceling headphones and listen to rain and thunderstorms on repeat. I get there when it opens at 7 am and write until 9.30-10 am, when I go and exercise. I write most of my first drafts in a local café these days. If you use the home office for email or accounts, or if it's cluttered with children's projects, or unfinished DIY or artwork, you’ll find it hard to write in there. If you always watch TV from the couch, you’ll sit down on it and automatically turn the TV on. Our brains get used to specific locations for specific things. 4 (2) Find a location that will help you create Because if you put a drop in a bucket every day, after 365 days, the bucket’s going to have some water in it.” John McPhee, Draft No. “The routine produces … And the routine of doing this six days a week puts a little drop in the bucket each day, and that’s the key. If you’re not making time for writing, then you don’t truly value it. Does it really mean that much to you? Because we all make time for the things we value. If you’re struggling to find the time to write, then revisit the reason why you’re writing in the first place. No email, no social media, no Slack or messaging. You can clean them up in the editing process, but you need to get black on white and finish that first draft in order to edit it into something useful later.ĭon't do anything else in that time block. It doesn't matter if the words aren't very good. ![]() Then turn up for that meeting with yourself, and write. Get out your calendar and schedule time for writing, as you would for any other important commitment. ![]() Scheduling writing time is the secret weapon because if you get your butt in the chair, or stand and dictate, for consistent periods of time, you WILL finish a draft. (1) Schedule time blocks for writing – and ONLY write in that time I still find first drafts challenging after 27+ books, but I have some specific processes and tools that help me get it done. When you haven't written a book before, you assume it's easy enough to do, until you try it! You need to start somewhere.” Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. ![]()
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