Writing Hint #34: Schedule your writing day

If you are like me, far too many things can get in the way of our writing. Sometimes there are seemingly far more interesting things to do. Sometimes the pressure to get things done around the house – like cleaning, and washing, and reading the mail or paper or whatever can hinder progress on that writing project.

The key to getting that writing done is to actually schedule the tasks to be done in the day. Sounds simple? It is – but putting it into practice can take discipline and practice. I have a standard list of things I try to do each day. Writing is one of those things. I make it a high priority that some writing is done every day. I set goals for each day, week and month and work hard at achieving those goals, but I don’t try to reach the week’s goals on the first day of the week. I stretch them out over the whole week. Sure and steady, small steps every day, little by little the writing gets done.

I plan each day carefully, but unplanned emergencies do happen and the schedule goes out the window. For example, a few weeks ago I wanted to attend a funeral. It was two hour’s drive away in another town. I took the day off from writing, attended the funeral, met many people I hadn’t seen in years, spent time with my widowed sister-in-law and then drove home in time for the evening meal. The time out actually refreshed me and gave me time to think while travelling that gave me plenty of writing inspiration.