Stop wasting time in your writing life!
There are some typical things that come to mind when we think of writers wasting time…
For example…
- Procrastination
- Distraction
- Inefficient writing tools and or systems
But we aren’t talking about these typical time suckers in this article.
For many writers, the most time wasted is spent waiting.
How To Stop Wasting Time? Stop Waiting!
How much time would you save without all this waiting?
Stop Wasting Time Waiting For These Things
We Wait To Take Action
Too often we waste our time waiting for the right conditions to write, or the perfect idea, or the ideal project. We wait until life settles down a bit, when we’ve got more headspace to focus on the creative work. But these situations never arrive on their own.
If we wait until we feel 100 percent ready to write, we will probably wait for the rest of our lives. Most of the time, we just have to start.
Take responsibility for your writing life. Take control. The world doesn’t owe you a bestseller or a literary award. You owe the world, and you owe yourself, your writing. Fit it in around all the other stuff and create your own perfect conditions. Start. Write.
We Wait To Appreciate Our Progress
We often take our progress as writers for granted. How often do you take a moment to appreciate the drafts you’ve completed, the ideas you’ve developed, or the characters you’ve created? Or are you always focused on the books you haven’t written yet?
Take a moment to think about the young writer you once were (however old you were when you started writing). You have made progress. You have come far. Celebrate yourself for that.
We Wait To Protect Our Creativity
Our creativity is sacred. Our writing time is precious. We all must take steps to protect our creative time, our creative spaces, including our mental spaces, and be careful what and whom we allow to infringe on our writing minds.
If something or someone in your life is taking a negative toll on your writing, address it with them. If things don’t change, limit as much as you’re able the influence these elements or people they have over you. Don’t wait until difficult people in your life “get you.” Chances are they never will. Surround yourself with people who respect, support, and inspire you. Honor your feelings and boundaries with grace.
We Wait Too Long To Be Kind To Ourselves
The writing world is full of people talking about how much they’re writing, how many books they’re selling, and how much money they’re making, and chances are, that’s more than you (and me) on all fronts.
It’s easy to be hard on ourselves for the stuff we’re not doing, especially when all of this comparison is being waved in our faces every day. So we often wait until we reach some future goal to back off and recognize our own achievements.
Stop waiting. Right now, embrace your potential, celebrate what you’ve done so far and what you continue to do, and show yourself some love and kindness now instead of waiting until you feel you deserve it. Because guess what? You deserve it right now.
We Wait To Take On Challenging Projects
Often we writers put off the big, complicated projects we’d love to write because we don’t feel we’re ready. Maybe we fee we don’t have the craft skills, or the time to give it the focus it deserves. Or perhaps we try to write it and quit because it’s just too hard.
Just because you’re struggling with a tough project doesn’t mean you’re failing. Every story requires effort to bring it to life. Give yourself credit and grace along the way. Remind yourself that you’re doing the best you can, and with every word you write, your “best” gets better. Remember too, sometimes it takes an epic series of drafts and rewrites to make something that resembles a coherent story. When in doubt, write the next paragraph, or even just the next word. Time and sustained practice will bring it all together. There’s every chance that if we wait until we feel ready to tackle these big, complicated projects that we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives.
We Wait To Join A Supportive Creative Community
Holding off joining a writing community could happen for numerous reasons. For many, though, not feeling ready to join with writers can delay reaching out to a group. We might feel we’re not good enough, that we haven’t accomplished enough. And so we wait… But the waiting could go on forever. You might never feel ready, but that doesn’t mean that you are not ready, and in the meantime, you’re really missing out on all of that friendship and support.
If you truly want to join a writing community, stop wasting time and go join one!
We Wait Before We Explore New Creative Directions
Is there a writing style or genre that’s been calling to you, but you hold off on exploring? Maybe you’re waiting until another project is finished. Maybe you’re waiting for a time in your career where we feel it’s safe to get off the hamster wheel of the same thing you’ve been writing for years and try something new. Are you tired of what you’ve been writing? Bored? Why are you really waiting to explore something new? What would it feel like to take a deep dive into your interests and passions and let your curiosity guide you? What would it feel like to dive in right now?
We Wait To Close Old Chapters
No, I’m not talking about book chapters (though they can be difficult to finish too!). Sometimes we take too long to close life chapters. This could be ideas that just aren’t working, or series that just aren’t selling. We think that maybe if we wait a little longer, things might turn around for the better. Is that realistic? Sure, this is a long game career and success is usually found in gradual increments. Is that’s what happening here, or are you clinging to an unrealistic hope, or perhaps experiencing a sunk cost fallacy?
Take stock of what’s not working and consider how closing these chapters might free up your time and energy to focus on something that might bring a more tangible success (however you define success).
We Wait To Accept Our Process
The writing world is full of voices telling you why their way is the best way. It’s unlikely to be phrased quite so bluntly, but every writer talking on every podcast about their writing process is a seed planted in your mind that your process might not actually be “good” or “right”. It takes a long time and a lot of words to be able to recognize this truth. Most of the time we hear writing advice given with the caveat “this might not work for you” but there’s something in our brains that often ignores that key fact. So, we waste time beating ourselves up because we can’t get it done like X or Y writer.
No, you CAN’T get it done like X or Y writer. You can ONLY get it done like you. So accept your process. And again, it’s going to take time and words to figure out what that is. Absolutely try other people’s ways and adapt them into your life, IF and only IF it’s a good fit. Life’s too short to live yours on someone else’s path.
We Wait To Confront Our Truth
Are you being completely honest with yourself about your writing or your writing life? Are you refusing good advice? Are you pushing against failures that just keep on happening?
We usually ignore hard truths because it’s painful. But the pain of living a lie, of pushing to make a lie real, is even more painful. If there’s a truth that you’re refusing to acknowledge, chances are that you already feel it there, niggling at you in the quiet moments. Take a break and listen. What freedoms is that truth trying to grant you?
So many of these situations are rooted in FEAR. For more about fear and the writing life, read Writing Beyond Fear.
How can you stop wasting time as a writer?
What can YOU stop waiting for?
