The most important trends I noticed from this experiment come in the form of one pro and one con. The pro of writing every day was that I found it a lot easier to start writing in each session, especially as the two weeks went on. By having shorter breaks in between sessions, it created a consistent train of thought when writing and helped keep my mind on the novel when I wasn’t. The major con with this experiment was that while I was hoping my writing time would cut into my leisure time, that was not the case. Instead, I found myself constantly pushing back assignments I needed to work on and, arguably worse, drastically diminishing the time I spent sleeping. While I was incredibly proud of the progress I made on my novel during this time (over twenty pages and 8,000 words written), throughout much of these two weeks I was stressed, mentally drained, and the 6 hours of sleep I consistently received every night did not help with that.
After processing the successes and failures of my experiment, and with the help of authors who I interviewed, I crafted a list of what I learned about ways I could improve my time management and make my writing sessions more effective. While each of these tips come from the perspective of an overworked college student, I believe they are applicable to anyone struggling with finding time to write, or to any writer in general. Finally, while some of my tips reflect what I’ve found through research or by word of mouth, I’ve learned that I don’t agree with every piece of advice I’ve heard before. I think it’s best to take advice from multiple different sources or find what works best for you specifically (although forcing yourself to write every day for two weeks might not be the best way to find that.)
TIP #1: SLEEP
This is barely a writing tip, more of a general health and wellness tip. Make sure you get enough sleep at night; I failed to do so during my experiment and many things suffered because of that. Getting enough sleep not only makes you feel refreshed while writing, but also in everything else you do. Again, this is barely a writing tip, and more of an emphasis in relation to…
TIP #2: DON’T WRITE EVERY DAY IF YOU FEASIBLY CANNOT WRITE EVERY DAY
Or in other words, routine is most important. I feel like a general tip I often hear as a writer is to write as often as I can and write every day if possible. Sometimes, though, writing every day is simply not possible and that’s okay. If writing every day is possible for you, then that’s great and you should try to fit writing into your schedule as often as you can, but writing every other day or once or twice a week also works. During my last winter break, I made a point to write at least every other day, and it might’ve been my most productive month of writing ever! The key here is making sure you’re not taking long breaks in between sessions so what you’re writing can stay fresh in your mind.
Tied to this idea is scheduling specific times to write. I failed to schedule specific times to write during my experiment, and as a result, everything else suffered. I was writing when I should’ve been working on schoolwork, so I ended up putting off those assignments. Then, my writing sessions took longer than anticipated and cut into my sleep time, and that made me exhausted and stressed when I finally sat down to do work. I’ll definitely try to do a better job of scheduling writing times in the future, especially during the school year.
“It’s entirely different than forcing yourself to write,” Boldt said on scheduling writing time, “having something be part of a routine is pretty healthy. That’s good, just finding a good space in your schedule to plop in another thing.”
Even McKenna Dutton, a recent UWEC graduate whose biggest piece of writing advice is to essentially force yourself to write (“just do it,” she says), finding a consistent scheduled routine was key in helping her make progress with her writing.
“When I came to college, I created ‘Future Creatives,’” Dutton said, “which was a group on campus where we would dedicate an hour at least, two times a week, to write. That really helped me a lot to keep me from not procrastinating.”
(To any current Blugolds who may be reading this, although Dutton has graduated, “Future Creatives” will still be going strong! So, if you’re looking to find time to write, keep your eye out for when they’ll be meeting!)
TIP #3: SET GOALS. SET LOTS OF GOALS.
Goals can be for a singular session or a broader period of time. During my experiment, I set a goal for how much I wanted to write every day. A goal doesn’t have to be tied to a word or page count, though. As Gannon told me, sometimes a goal can involve “fleshing out a character or putting down a plot beat,” and that simply accomplishing a goal constitutes a successful writing session.
During the two years I’ve spent working on my novel, I’ve also set multiple long-term goals for myself. First, it was “get to 30 pages by the end of the summer,” then “get to 100 pages by the end of sophomore year,” “get to 150 pages by the end of summer 2024,” “get to 200 pages by the end of junior year,” and now “finish my rough draft before the end of summer.” While I’ve only succeeded in two of my four long-term goals, they all motivated me to write and therefore accomplished their main purpose. I’ve found that always having a goal to shoot for, whether short-term or long-term, has motivated me to write, even if I didn’t successfully complete the goal. The sense of accomplishment and progress that completing goals brings is also a great motivator in itself!
TIP #4: READ! READ! READ!
On the topic of motivation, while I’ve never been one to read for inspiration (yet!), each of my friends brought this up so I thought it’d be important to mention.
“What motivates me to write is anything I’m reading,” Gannon said. “I view writing as: you don’t get a lot of output if you don’t have a lot of input. Reading is the input, so you need to read to get that output. And then anything I think is cool, like styles (or genres), will get me into a phase. And often, whatever phase I’m in will inspire my writing.”
“What inspires me is reading really good books or watching really good movies,” Dutton said. “I love when books or movies feel real, and the fact that we can capture that through fiction, of all things, is fascinating to me.”
“I am motivated by the books I read,” Boldt said. “I would also recommend bringing a book wherever you are writing because I read when I get stuck. Or I do crosswords, anything to keep my mind occupied.”
TIP #5: LOCATION ISN’T CRUCIAL
I feel like I’ve heard that some people have a certain place they need to be or certain things they need to have in order to write. While I am “guilty” of often writing in the same places and with the same things, most of them aren’t necessary for me to write. In fact, I like the adventure that comes with discovering a new place to write, and as was the case with the second floor of Davies, some of those discoveries can prove successful!
The most important thing about a place is that it’s free of distractions. For me, any sound other than white noise can take me out of a writer’s mindset immediately, so I am very picky about where I write. If sound is less of an issue for you, then I’d recommend getting creative with where you work!
And, on the topic of distractions, don’t take your phone and/or check social media if possible during a session. If you need to check your phone, though (or if the thought of social media is eating away at you and preventing you from focusing on your writing), make it fast. Social media can be a time killer, and spending too much time on it during a writing session can horribly derail your train of thought.
TIP #6: TAKE NOTES! BEFORE, WHILE, AND AFTER YOU WRITE.
