While we are excellent at generating excuses to avoid writing, there are days when we truly don’t have time to sit down and write for an hour. Try these five hacks to keep you writing even during those super busy times:
1. Keep a Journal
This is beneficial on a number of levels, but in short, keeping a journal every day helps us write consistently. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy; some people record the facts of the day in a couple of sentences while others (*cough cough*) tend to wax long over the mood, feelings, happenings, and story of the day.
It’s nice having a journal to look back on to remember all those days we so easily forget. Can you remember what you did last Tuesday? It took me a minute to come up with my answer, personally. If you can look back at a journal, you won’t lose entire days or weeks from your memory. It’s a written record of your story.
Make just a simple entry each day, either just before bed or when you get up in the morning, and you’ll have a mini daily writing habit you can keep even when you’re swamped. An extra benefit is that it minimizes screen time in those moments just before sleep and waking, which leads to a much healthier lifestyle as well!
And who knows? It could come in super handy for someone trying to write your biography someday.
(We talk more in depth about journaling in this article!)
2. Fill a Gratitude Journal
This is amazing to do and not just to hone your writing skills. If you keep it quick and simple so you’re not tempted to skip, you’ll have a lengthy record of encouragement in a short amount of time.
This is different from a normal journal. A normal journal is a record of your life; this is a record of your blessings, often in bullet-point form (so no excuses on skipping such a quick, easy writing task!).
I pick at least one thing that happened each day, whether it was a compliment from someone, something amazing from work, or a cute animal I saw—something positive that warmed my heart—and write it down. It takes just a minute or two at the end of the day and leaves me with a positive thought before I go to bed. I truly look forward to this part of my evening routine, and I always save it as the very last thing I do so that my day ends happily.
No matter how bad your day is, you can always think of something good. Did you drink coffee? Put it down. If that’s all you’ve got, it’s a start!
It’s also nice to look back and remind yourself of all those events or words of encouragement that brought joy to your heart. You’ll not only knock out a writing assignment every day, but you’ll also create a shift in your outlook on life. It may seem small at first, but it produces massive results. No excuses now, right?
{My parents gave me the journal I use for my birthday (it’s refillable!). It’s from Innovative Journaling, and I LOVE it. Definitely recommend their products—high quality. *This is NOT an affiliate link. I just love the journal!}
3. Write a Letter
A letter a day keeps the doctor away…
Okay, that’s not how it goes, BUT getting a handwritten letter is one of the best things ever in the world.
Why not bless someone with a note while checking off your creative writing box at the same time? I can’t think of a reason.
Write a note to an elderly friend, a word of encouragement to your pastor, a “keep at it” piece to your teacher, or a sweet card to your discouraged friend. The possibilities are limitless! Not only will you get a bit of writing into your busy schedule, but you never know the impact an unexpected kindness like that will have on those you love.
4. Compose a Poem
Make it a small one, like a haiku. Quick refresher: a haiku comes from Japan and is a poem comprised of three lines with a pattern of five, seven, and five syllables, in that order. There is no rhyming or any other structural rules, just the syllables.
Anyone compelled
To count others’ syllables?
Or is that just me?
Well, look at that. It’s ugly, but I whipped it up in about a minute after wondering if I am the only OCD person out there who has to count the syllables in every single haiku I read to check if they did it right.
Doing a small, structured exercise like this only takes a few minutes, is fun, and might produce something you’re proud of. Or it might not. Either way, crack out your writing cap and practice a limerick, haiku, or maybe even a sonnet a day. And who knows, you might be the next Shakespeare! (Probably not, but no harm in dreaming.)
5. Write a List
We make lists all the time. At least I do—grocery lists, to-do lists, thank you lists…What if you had more fun with your lists and looked at them as creative assignments? Alliteration and poetry are both fun to try:
Original:
- Call library
- Email N&M
- Look at S’s notes
- Follow up on G’s application
New & Improved:
- Call library
- Correspond with N&M
- Critique S’s notes
- Confirm G’s application
This is a small alliterative example, but I just took a portion of my existing to-do list and alliteralized it. (I just made that word up; we writers can do that, you know!) It doesn’t take long, and it forces us to come up with fun, different words.
Hopefully now you’ll find it harder to say you don’t have time to write! How will you sneak creative writing into your busy, everyday life? Share in the comments below!
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