Making Time to Write
This morning I was talking about the number of articles I wrote in one day. During the peak of my income over the last several months I was writing up to 20 articles (about 300 words each) every day. That is a lot of writing.
I had been proud of how much work I was getting done with my fiction and my own blogs – until I remembered this little fact. My three blogs and two pages of writing were not any where close to the 6,000 words each day that I had been writing.
Why is it that I can write more for others than I can write for myself? The simple answer is that I do not make the personal writing as important as the “paid” writing. If I spent a portion of the energy that I pour into my paychecks doing my own writing then I would have enough posts to carry me for a month!
Pushing Past the Paycheck
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1. Write out a list of articles that I HAVE to do each day in order to feel my blog quota.
2. Do my writing list consistently each day. Do more if time allows.
3. Turn off the T.V. while I am writing my blogs. Music may be okay, but the news gets my thoughts off track (unless I am actually writing in my political blog).
4. Set a timer so that I write for a certain amount of time. Make it a game to see how many blog posts I can complete in that limited amount of time.
5. Remember that posts written in hast do not have to be posted immediately. I can use some down time to review and edit posts that were written previously and often the review and editing process will motivate me to write even more.
6. Write what I love. Passion, more than anything else, drives my ability to write. Sharing what I know, what I love and what I hope is the best way for me to get words on the paper.
There is always an excuse for me not to write. When I am writing for someone else, the deadline always trumps the excuse. I have to put the same priority on my own writing if I want my own writing to flourish in the same fashion.
How much are you writing each day? What are you going to do to push your writing to the next level?
Hi Kathryn –
I’m putting writing at the top of my to-do list these days. James Scott Bell recommends evaluating production by count rather than time spent in front of the computer. After all, we can sit staring at a screen for two hours and accomplish nothing. Good advice.
Thanks for a helpful post. 🙂
Blessings,
Susan
You mean I can’t count the screen staring? Great, now I have to re-figure my schedule.