Redeem the Time to Write

To publish a full-length novel, you first have to redeem the time to write. Fortunately, your future comes one choice at a time.

Count the Cost of the Time to Write

Your first choice is the conscious decision to undertake a writing project.

That decision requires you to count the cost of writing a full-length novel. You’ll shift the time used for various tasks to writing. That tradeoff requires you to evaluate the toll your writing project will take on emotions, relationships, career, and more.

Your choice to entertain, inform, and inspire readers can shape their lives, but only you can decide whether the tradeoff in priorities is right for you and those you care about.

Each Choice Helps You Find the Time to Write

Once you’ve evaluated the tradeoffs in priorities and crossed the decision bridge to make writing a novel your priority, then finding the time to complete the task becomes your writing project’s first milestone.

This decision requires introspection, reflection on your God-given wiring harness, and the people sharing your orbit.

• We all have 525,600 minutes each year, but some figure out how to shift just enough time to complete their writing goal.
• A goal without a plan is merely a wish, so you’ll need to adopt and adapt writing processes (i.e., “habits”) to achieve your goal.
• Setting aside the time to write requires you to balance all aspects of life.

Ten two-letter words will help focus on priorities: if it is to be, it is up to me.

Your Choices Avoid Wasting the Time to Write

Like a slow leak in an inner tube, minutes escape from every hour.

• Perfectionism causes writers to check and double-check their work, wasting the minutes they could use to enhance their relationships and progress their writing.
• We allow distractions (not important but perceived urgent things) to shift our priorities, frittering away time as we struggle to restart the creative process.
• An innate desire to please people causes some to devote time to efforts that later reveal a lack of value or appreciation.
• Like walking on a treadmill, busyness (e.g., editing the same paragraph for the umpteenth time, answering non-urgent emails, commenting on social media, etc.) replaces measured advancement (e.g., completing a scene), giving us the false impression we’re accomplishing something while our progress remains fixed.
• The desire to learn more instead of applying the knowledge already gained requires balance, and if we’re not careful, we waste time in pursuit of more insights when we already possess the essence of what’s needed to exceed readers’ expectations.
• The seductive desire to scroll the latest news leads to doom-scrolling, wasting more minutes and even hours.
• While enjoyable, excessive entertainment (e.g., reading, TV, games, YouTube) can fritter away hours, making us question whether our writing goal is achievable.
• Other time-wasters include unhealthy emotions, annoying people, and inane activities (e.g., social media), each wasting time that could be used to complete priority tasks.

Like the need to first find the hole before patching an inner tube, consider first identifying what causes the loss of minutes before changing the routines of life.

Your Choices Can Recover the Time to Write

Let’s consider some reasons why we lose track of the minutes in a day.

• Time wasted worrying about uncontrollable events or people.
• Lost time wondering what to work on next.
• Hours squandered on unimportant tasks, meetings, and social media.
• Schedules shifted to please the agendas of others.
• Pursuit of activities based on the fear of missing out (FOMO).

Now consider what these time-wasters do to your week.

• At the end of an eight-hour workday, 15 unproductive minutes per hour multiply into 2.5 hours of waste, losing more than a full day during a 5-day workweek.
• Personal hours spent on the weekends attempting to make up for time lost during the workweek.
• Those weekend hours required to recover the lost time often encroach on our relationships, cascading into more lost time as we struggle to balance people and tasks.

The writer who recovers wasted time is the one who has an edge, and in your goal to write a book, that edge separates published authors from dreamers.

Identify Where You Spend Time

Create a time inventory of where and when you spend most of your minutes, and then categorize your activities using this Eisenhower Matrix.

You’ll find your tasks and activities fall into one of the four quadrants. Here’s the key to unlocking more time.

• Use productivity tools (e.g., A-B-C Productivity Booster) that speed task completion in the Important/Urgent (Quad 1) category.
• Eliminate as many tasks and activities as possible from the Not Important/Urgent (Quad 3) and Not Important/Not Urgent (Quad 4) categories.
• Then, shift saved minutes into the Important/Not Urgent (Quad 2) category.

Redeploy wasted minutes into hours of productive writing by completing the time inventory and using the Eisenhower Matrix.

More Details on How to Redeem the Time to Write

To recover ample time to write, divide your time inventory into three categories:

Note: Includes the Eisenhower Matrix plus A-B-C Productivity Booster.

3. HOLD (Future Important Tasks/Activities)

Save to a list the other activities and tasks that have a level of importance but you don’t need to consider or work right now. Putting items on a HOLD list (even Quad 2 tasks for the future) means they won’t get lost while decluttering your immediate focus on time-sensitive and critical tasks.

Conclusion

Redeeming the time to write is not complex, but it takes work to identify the tasks, make the changes, and most importantly turn the process into your long-term writing habits.

• Keep in mind that productivity experts drink their coffee instead of pouring it down the sink. Likewise, don’t go overboard with planning your time.
• According to Scott D. Clary, leave room for serendipity by building in blank spaces—time for that unexpected opportunity, impromptu lunch, or unplanned call.
• Sometimes the detours we take are the best times of our lives.

You’ve got this!

Leave a Reply

---