5 Tips For Fitting Writing Into Your Day

If you’re constantly struggling to find the time for writing then these tips are for you. This isn’t about creating the perfect cozy writing practice in order to pump out 5 or more chapters a day. No, this is about adding more to your story little by little in a way that can be done each day without completely shaking up your schedule and burning you out. 

Tip #1: Write On Your Phone

With all of these tips, it’s important to learn to write on your phone. It’s not too crazy when you think about it. Just look at it as if you were sending one very very long text message. If you’re in the editing phase that might be too much to try to do on a phone, but when you’re writing your first draft, it’s easy to type away on the small screen. Your phone is almost always with you so you will have more opportunities to write during small bits of downtime. 

Tip#2: Write Before And After Sleep

When your alarm goes off and you sit up in bed, take 10 minutes or more to write a few sentences in your story. Don’t wait until after breakfast or brushing your teeth because then you’re more likely to continue on with your daily routine and responsibilities and forget to write all together. 

Likewise, write for ten minutes or more before going to bed. For this one though I suggest doing your writing while standing at the bathroom sink right after brushing your teeth. It might feel silly and out of place but if you get into bed beforehand it’s incredibly easy to feel the weight of the day all at once. Before you know it you will be making plenty of good arguments for waiting to write in the morning. Maybe you’ll even do forty minutes of writing in the morning to really make up for it, right? Wrong! Never trust sleepy you!

Tip #3: On your commute

Do not type while driving! If you drive your commute then voice-to-text is going to be your best friend. Just be sure to annunciate your words. Once you get the hang of it you’re going to fly through scenes of your story every day.
If you take public transportation you’re still free to use voice-to-text but your neighbors might not appreciate the live story telling. The good news is you have the option to write on a laptop which might be faster than typing on your phone.

Tip #4: Replace social media with writing

Whether it’s the elevator, in the check-out line, or lulls at the dinner table, any time you find yourself opening social media redirect to your document and add more to your story. If you don’t use any other tips except this one you will already be much better off because you will be making progress in your story and cutting down on unnecessary scrolling. 

Tip #5: Clean up on the weekends (not editing!)

If you like editing as you go and you’ve seen real progress with that method then continue using your own system. However, if editing as you write keeps you re-writing the same chapter over and over, it’s best to keep writing until you’re done and don’t look back!

During the weekend, or another specific day you choose, go back through what you’ve written and fix any confusing lines from voice-to-text or combine a scene you wrote twice when you were distracted in the check-out line. You won’t want to do any major edits but we do want to reflect on the progress you made during the week and decide what needs to happen next in your story.

How often you utilize these tips is up to you. While these are great ways to work more writing time into your day, make sure you’re giving yourself a balance. Writing can be a career but it is also something we all simply enjoy! Don’t let the pressure to make progress cause you to skip quiet moments with yourself. 

Do you have tips for creating a sustainable writing practice? Share with us in the Discord community or in your circles on StoryForge!