No one will give you time to write. You have to take it. I’m in a time crunch now, but I needed a break. Therefore, here are 22 tips it didn’t take me long to come up with:
1. Say, “No.” Do that more.
2. Schedule your writing time.
3. Steal your writing time, between the other stuff you have to do and away from the stuff that’s optional.
4. Write when the kids are napping.
5. Get up before everyone else.
6. Get the kids to bed earlier and you stay up to write.
7. Stop reading reviews, checking Amazon stats and obsessing over what you can’t control. Write the next book.
8. Get away from Facebook and Twitter. That stuff is for breaks when you are creatively exhausted.
9. Plot while watching your kid’s soccer game. I came up with a book that way recently and still paid enough attention that I didn’t miss my kid’s heroics.
10. Someone else is cooking tonight.
11. Delegate laundry. Ask for help.
12. Do more. Write more. Talk less.
13. Dump rituals around writing. Waiting for the perfect writing environment is procrastination disguised as usefulness.
14. Write on the train commute.
15. Turn off all screens but the one you use to write. Turn off your Internet connection during writing time.
16. Look at your email once, at the end of the day, if you must.
17. Don’t just delete the emails that don’t serve you. Dump the subscriptions to all those newsletters and blogs you don’t really follow.
18. Focus on what’s productive. Getting into arguments on the Internet isn’t productive. Feed your need for drama by writing books instead.
19. Someone will try to draw you into unproductive time sucks. If they won’t take a hint, do not tolerate trolls. Unfriend, unfollow, mute. Block them across all your social media so you don’t accidentally run into each other again after you’ve forgotten their names.
20. Make a habit of planning what you will write tomorrow. Momentum carries us forward.
21. Jump into writing first. What must be seen on television (precious little) is recorded for later.
22. Stop reading this blog. Go write.
Time is life. Manage it right and you’ll write more books.
Filed under: writing tips, Facebook, finding writing time, stop wasting time, Time management, time management for writers, Twitter, writers, writing, writing advice, writing time
C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m 
Well said, man! I’m guilty of not following at least half oh these…..so, I’m off to write!
#13 is my favorite.
Love it. I’m getting much better at focusing when I write. And as you say, I’m getting off the blog and back to writing 🙂
Fantastic and concise. Great tips.
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