Schedule time to write.You won't be sorry you did. It is highly important to schedule time to write in order to accomplish your writing goals. It is vital to realize the importance of creative writing. When you schedule time to write, you are making a concerted effort to find time each and every day to work on your writing. For a long time, I worked on this website, my book, and other creative areas of my life whenever I could find time. All of these were areas of my life that I would concentrate on at my leisure. I found, though, that leisure is yet another way for me to procrastinate, putting off the writing that I so want to do. If you want to be a writer, you must write. There is no room for "ifs" and "whens" when making time to write; there is only room for "now". Start talking about your writing in the present tense, instead of saying: "When I finally get the time to write my book..." or "If I ever find the time to just sit down and write..." These are phrases that you may utter on a regular basis. You feel that you just do not have the time to allocate to writing. There are so many other chores to be done around the house, errands to run, children to play with, classes to take, TV shows to watch, and websites to visit. Now, I want to be clear. All of the aforementioned things that have to be done can help you write something from a more experienced viewpoint. Breaking writer's block is quite important, and any or all of these things may prove to be helpful. However, everything that you do on a daily basis makes up your routine. If you start to write for even twenty minutes a day, that will come to be a part of your routine, and you may find inspiration just sitting there and doing that, rather than looking for something else that needs to be done in place of your taking the time to write. In order to become a successful writer, you must schedule time to write. None of the great novelists, poets, or essayists got where they are today without putting effort into their creative writing time. Here is my proposal for you: Start off writing for ten minutes a day, unless you feel you can handle more. Once you schedule time to write, you will find that it is something that you learn to make time for each and every day. Do not allow yourself to end any day without writing for a specified amount of time. It is also important that you do not stiff yourself on time. If you wrote for ten minutes one day, and you decide to up your time to twenty minutes for the next day, you must stick to the time you set for yourself. Nothing should be more important than your writing during those twenty minutes that you have set aside for yourself. Never go back on time, either. If you work your way up one hour of time each day, do not go back to thirty minutes. Stick to the times you have set. You may choose to try timed writing activities. You can do any activity or exercise found on this website, but set a time limit for yourself so you know when you must stop writing. Or, just spend ten minutes where you have to keep writing, even if you are writing nonsense, so you can see all the words that will pour out of you onto paper. Set limits. See if they prove fruitful. Writing is a choice. You must choose not to fall victim to all of the other areas of your life that may require attention. Get to those things, of course, but do not forget that this area of your life - your writing - requires your supreme, undivided attention for at least a short amount of time each day. Create a schedule for yourself. If you work all day, then spend the hour after dinner doing your writing. If you work at night, find a time during the day to write. Now is the time. Now you must schedule time to write because otherwise the importance of creative writing time is falling by the wayside. Once you set reasonable goals for yourself, you can make strides in your writing, and at the same time, you can work your way up the writing ladder until you have finished one piece of writing and are beginning another. Imagine the possibilities for how much you can get done if you only schedule time to write. I have made it my goal to post one page per day on this website, on top of writing my novel and doing the other parts of my daily routine. I am proud to say that I have been posting one or more pages each day, and I have been working on everything that is a part of my routine so I do not fall behind in any other area of my life. I believe in you. Now you just have to believe in yourself and schedule time to write. During the times that you sit down to write, you may find that you have writer's block. In that case, I hope you will come here and try out some of our exercises and activities. No matter what you are taking the time to write, you are still setting creative writing time for yourself. Working on one of the activities or exercises mentioned on our site might bring you to a heightened sense of realization for where to go with your own work. Once there, I wish you luck as you allow the writing to flow from your mind onto paper. To return from Schedule Time to Write to the
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