5 Ways to Make the Most of Your Writing Time

Writing is hard sometimes. From running out of inspiration, to carving out the time to get some words down, to finding the motivation to sit down and start typing, we writers are plagued with all sorts of problems calculated to ruin the best laid writing plans.  But there are also plenty of ways to combat these troubles and get some good work done in your precious writing time. I’m sure there are many other tricks to make writing sessions productive, but these are five that help me.

Sleep: Writing requires quite a lot of mental energy. A day of writing often leaves me as tired as if I had a busy day filled with appointments and physical labour. So it’s important to make sure that you get enough sleep to refill those energy tanks. A tired mind definitely does not want to sit at a computer and churn out brilliant prose.

Planning Writing Time: So you’ve been sleeping well, but you’re having trouble with your writing time. It keeps getting taken up by other tasks, like blog post writing or laundry folding. Plan ahead of time and try to schedule blog posts or clear small tasks before your writing session. And if you still miss writing sessions, don’t beat yourself up about it. Life happens.

Gather Ideas: You’ve cleared out a block of time to write in. Only there’s one problem. Suddenly all that inspiration you had when you were too busy to write has evaporated, leaving you staring at a blank document. There are few feelings worse than not having anything to say. Start and ideas journal and jot down your flashes of inspiration as they come to you. Then you’ll know what you wanted to write about and won’t have to waste precious time searching for inspiration.

Set Goals: Great, you’ve got a pocket full of ideas and you’re ready to write! But you don’t really feel like doing a lot of work today, even though you have time to write. Set yourself a goal. You could plan to write a certain amount of words, hit a milestone, reach an anticipated event, or just work consistently for  certain amount of minutes before taking a break. Set goals that push you to work a little harder, but make sure they’re attainable. Not only will they push you to do more, but it’s so satisfying to tick them off.

Reward Yourself: After your writing session, reward yourself. You worked hard. You put in the hard miles. Give yourself a reward, whether it be cake, chocolate, time on Facebook, whatever strikes your fancy. It’s very motivating to know that, once you hit your goals, there are good things waiting for you.

These are just a few of the things that help me. What helps you get the most out of your writing sessions? Leave your tips in the comments!