The summertime used to be the most productive time of the year for my writing. I would write for hours every day—almost nonstop. I was constantly inspired, and I felt amazing.
But then school would come around… and my motivation fizzled out. With so many other priorities like school and extracurriculars starting back up again, my writing fell to the wayside.
Can you relate to this? Do you ever wish you could spend more time on your writing during the school year?
If so, I want to help you because it doesn’t have to be this way. And since school has already started for most of us, I thought it would be helpful to outline the simple two-step strategy that helped me make time for my writing during the school year. And trust me, you probably have more time than you think. ;)
Step #1: Identify your priorities
Why is figuring out your priorities so important?
Because if writing is just a hobby to you, then making time for it during the school year might not be super important to you.
What I’m trying to say is that if you have a bunch of priorities above writing then they’re probably taking up more time and attention in your life. And that’s perfectly fine, if they’re more important to you.
But if writing is more than a hobby to you (like I realized it is to me!) and if you want to explore it as a career, then you’ll need to make time for it in your schedule.
This is a key distinction to make between hobby and serious writers because if you’re ready to take writing seriously, you need to be willing to commit to it and make sacrifices for it.
But if you’re just a hobby writer and also still want to make more time for your writing, that’s great too! Take a look at the second step.
Step #2: Check your schedule and make a plan
The next step I took towards making time for my writing was checking my schedule and making a plan.
Take a look at the things in your life that you’re spending a lot of time on. Some people recommend keeping track of every hour of your day for a week, so you can gain a really accurate look at your schedule. But if you don’t want to do all that work, just make a list from memory and try to be completely honest with yourself.
A large portion of your time will probably be spent on necessary and important things, such as school, eating, extracurriculars, spending time with friends and family, etc.
But doing this exercise will also probably reveal where you’re spending your time not so wisely. By looking at the specific things on your list, ask yourself, is this really necessary?
Do I really need to be spending an hour a day scrolling on Instagram? Or three hours watching Netflix?
Many people say, “I don’t have time to write!” But really they’re just using lack of time as an excuse. What they’re really saying is, “I like the idea of writing, but I like spending my time on (insert other activity here) more.”
Because the reality is not many published authors “had time” either when they wrote their first book. Before getting published, most authors have to fit writing in with their current schedule, which is often pretty busy. Why do they do this? Because writing is important to them and they make it a priority in their lives.
If you want to make time for your writing, you need to honestly identify the parts of your life, where you’re prioritizing other things above writing that you don’t really need to.
Once you’ve done that, make a plan. Commit to stop wasting your time playing that addicting game on your phone by deleting the app and then replace the time you used to spend doing that with writing, or whatever the case may be in your own life.
Bonus tip: Making the most of your time
Now that you’ve made time for writing, it’s important to protect that time, by maintaining focus and working efficiently.
The best way I’ve found to help me with this came about when I learned about Parkinson’s law. You may have heard of this law before. It states that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”
In other words, you can complete a task faster when you give yourself a smaller amount of time to finish it.
Think about it. If your only task for the day is to drive to the grocery store to buy some flowers, you’ll probably take your sweet time.
When you wake up in the morning, you won’t feel as guilty about checking your phone, taking a longer shower, or watching a TV show before getting ready to go out. But before you know it, look at that! It’s lunchtime. And by the time you make it to the grocery store, half the day has already passed! See what I mean?
On the other hand, if you have a jam-packed to-do list and not much time to get it all done, you’re more likely to get ready as quickly as possible before getting to your tasks right away.
How does this apply to writing? Well, in the context of making time for writing during the school year, one great way is to give yourself a shorter amount of time to complete your homework. I’m sure I’m not the only one who gets overwhelmed by the amount of work that I have to do, and ends up procrastinating on YouTube. By giving yourself a shorter amount of time to complete your homework, you’re more likely to really focus on the task at hand, so you can complete it in a timely manner instead of putting it off.
And if you have trouble staying focused while writing you can use this law to your advantage in that area! It really applies to so many aspects of life.
This really shifted the way I view time, and as a result, I’m able to make more time for my writing by completing my homework quicker, and spending that writing time more thoughtfully and efficiently.
In summary, if writing is truly a priority in your life and you’re ready to take it seriously, you’ll be willing to make the time.
I hope this plan is helpful towards making time for your writing during the school year.
Just think about all the things you could accomplish, by making more time for your writing—finally finishing the first draft of your novel, or polishing your novel to take the next steps towards publication.
Now, what I want to know is…
What are some ways you make time for writing during the school year?
Until next time,
Kayleigh Idea