Being a Better Writer: Making Time To Write · 4:16pm Nov 20th, 2023
Welcome once again, writers! It’s Monday, and you know what that means. It’s time for more Being a Better Writer.
Now, I do have a small tidbit of news to drop here. Due to the new writing schedule BaBW has switched over to, this weekend when I would normally write it will be instead a holiday. Specifically, Thanksgiving. Which means that instead of writing next week’s BaBW, I’ll be spending time with family, friends, and probably whatever leisure project I’m currently engaged in (probably reading or gaming).
So yeah, next week there will not be a BaBW installment. The week after we’ll get something. And it also doesn’t mean that there won’t be content next week. After all, Axtara – Magic and Mayhem is nearly ready (and may be, by the time this posts next week) for a second Alpha, which means that I can start dropping full previews without feeling like I’m delivering something that’s too substandard.
So no new Being a Better Writer next Monday, the 27th of November, but instead new Axtara stuff as book two wings closer to coming out! And BaBW will resume the week after, at least for the few weeks leading into Chistmas.
All right, so with that warning out of the way, let’s talk about today’s topic. And yes, I know that some of you are probably looking at it and thinking “Ugh, this again? Haven’t you talked about finding time to write before?”
It’s true. I have. I’ve covered a lot of topics on writing multiple times over the last ten years. But like all of those, this one comes back around because it’s a vital part of being able to write, and one of the aspects of writing that people struggle with most often.
Case in point: Last week’s BaBW on five things you need to write a story presented some data on the number of people who say they want to write a book versus the number of people who actually do. Later that week and with that same data fresh in mind, I made a social media post in response to someone talking about that exact idea, providing the harder numbers that I’d mentioned in the same post.
Someone else replied stating that the post had been hard to read, as they’d realized they were firmly in that portion that always talked about it, but had never set aside the time to actually do it, and noting that maybe they needed to finally start looking at putting some time behind their aims (and yes, I definitely replied back in support of that).
Point being that this is something that still comes around as a shock for many. Or a hard truth. So today, we’re talking about it. We are going to hit the concept head-on and talk directly about why you need to make time to write.
So hit that jump, and let’s go.
I am rather infamous for my habit of scheduling things, particularly around reading. I do not, in fact, schedule my writing time. Instead I set a words/day goal and carefully track it with a coinciding monthly target. It's a loose system; I'm under no obligation to meet the daily quota or even write daily at all, so long as I reach the goal of the month by month's end. While not demanding a strict schedule, it does require that I be aware of my daily progress, know what I can't and can't do, and compensate when I'm falling behind. I increase or decrease the quota each month based on whether I reached my target the previous month. Or based on special circumstances, in the case of months I know will be busy with other things or just want to take a break.
I think the one critical element that must be accepted by anyone who wants to write is determination. If you don't have the will to sit down and wield the keyboard regardless of how you feel in the moment, there's a good chance you won't get anywhere.
Lacking the determination and drive, and being unable to will it into being to stay, is the main reason why my artist aspiration (drawing, etc.) never lasted after my attempts to get into an animation degree failed. That's not writing, obviously, but there's a lot of overlap.
Writing, though I do enjoy it and can't not do it at least irregularly, was never something I intended as a career path, and as such, while I've gone through as many slack periods of writing (and, indeed, just came out of one) as the next ghost, I'm mostly okay with not being a regular writer, and doing it just for the stories that demand to be told. That said, when I do have a project that demands to be done and I really want to force myself to get it out, I have used some of these scheduling tricks. They don't always work, but that's mostly down to me; they work enough times to endorse them. Like PaulAsaran, I don't do daily goals, but a goal for a longer period that I adjust as I go to reach works well.