Recently, I have finished a book in two months and am ahead in my word count for NaNoWriMo all while teaching full-time and finishing grad school. Because of this, a question I keep getting from my students and coworkers is “how do you find the time?” Here’s the deal: I don’t have much time for writing. At best, I have two free hours in the evening, a free hour in the morning, and an occasional gap in my lunch meetings. Until last weekend, I had to spend every Saturday and Sunday reading coursework, writing papers, and taking tests. So how do I find the time?

Quite simply, I make the time. It’s not always fun, but I have substantially cut out TV, video games, and other time wasters like scrolling through the internet. At least one of my evening hours is spent writing, and the hour I have before getting ready for work is dedicated to that time as well. If I’m caught up on my work, I also will use the time my students are running late or there is a gap in my schedule to get a quick writing session in. But all of that time spent on writing leaves room for little else.

I think part of my problem with not completing, or even making progress in, my writing projects was that I was just waiting for inspiration to hit. The trouble is, if you wait for inspiration to hit, you are never going to go anywhere with your writing. What you have to do instead is to sit down every day, preferably at the same time and in the same spot, and let yourself write whatever comes to you. Most of it is going to be pieces that you have to completely rewrite or scrap altogether, but you’ll be producing way more good writing that you would have by waiting.

And here’s the thing about writing crap: you’re still growing as a writer even if you don’t end up using everything you write. I have written entire manuscripts that have been scrapped, but I have learned so much in the process of writing them. Even my current WIP has whole chunks that I am going to have to take out or rewrite, but I am a much stronger writer for having written them.

The last point I have to make about consistent writing is that it negates the necessity of setting goals. A lot of writers are struggling right now with NaNoWriMo and are, reasonably, feeling burnout by it. The word count I’ve reached so far with NaNo has only been because of my consistent writing rather than pushing for that goal. Having lofty goals of “I’m going to write 50,000 words in a month” or “I’m going to finish my book by New Year’s” only leads to stress and burnout, making the writing process miserable and something your brain understandably tries to avoid. 

So while aiming to write a book and reach a certain word count is all well and good, carving out time in your day, every day, is really what will give you an edge in your writing career. Just one more piece of wisdom, though, before I leave you: it’s okay to miss a day or two. Life happens, and we all have to set our priorities on what really matters. Just don’t let the new season of the Witcher be that priority.