by Jenna | Dec 18, 2021 | ScriptMag Articles
Welcome to the latest installment of my “Ask the Coach” column on Script Mag! This month I’m addressing a reader’s question about how much (or whether) to plan writing time:
“How much should I be planning my writing time vs. just showing up to write each day?”
Much like the answer to most writing-related questions, it depends.
Here are some things to think about:
1. Showing up to write consistently is one of the most consequential actions you can take as a writer.
Whether you plan or don’t plan, showing up to write consistently and regularly throughout the year is the best way to see your body of work building over time.
Writing regularly has other benefits as well: According to a study by researcher Robert Boice, writers who write daily are twice as likely to have frequent creative thoughts as writers who write when they “feel like it.”
Writing consistently is also the best way to “find” or develop your voice, something writers often ask about too.
I typically advise most writers to aim to write 5 to 7 days each week, leaning to daily for newer writers or writers getting back on track after time away. Longer gaps between writing sessions make it harder to restart.
On the other hand, “just writing” without any kind of plan won’t necessarily help you see a script (or other writing projects) through to Done. Yes, ideas and voice development, as well as personal growth and insight are valuable. But planned writing leads to completion. At the same time, you can design it in such a way as to allow for flexibility. [more…]
While you certainly can be detailed in your day’s planning, I recommend working within the context of a well-structured goal and overall plan and setting up daily average targets in terms of time, page counts, and/or to-do’s.
Photo by cottonbro from Pexels
by Jenna | Sep 26, 2020 | Final Draft Articles
I’ve been thinking a lot about how to keep writing when the world is both literally and figuratively on fire, which led to this week’s article on the Final Draft blog. It was in part inspired by a Twitter conversation I stumbled across where writers were sharing how unproductive they were feeling. Since I’m finding that the more I lean into writing and our Called to Write community, the more stable, grounded, and productive I feel, I was inspired to write this article about what I’m doing in the hopes of helping you keep writing too, even when things are in such a state of upheaval.
“…your desire to write comes from the urge to not just be “creative,” it’s a need (one every human being on earth has) to help others.”
— Shawn Coyne, The Story Grid.
Right now it feels like, one way or another, the world is falling apart. As a result, writers are more vulnerable to distraction, stress and anxiety than usual. I’m seeing threads, articles and discussions running the emotional gamut; from despair and rage, to hope and determination, while simultaneously making it clear how hard it is to write or do anything other than scroll the news and social media—at least for those of us willing to say so publicly.
Now more than ever, we need our writing community. In that spirit, here are six tips to help you keep writing, even when it feels like things are falling apart.
Read the article on the Final Draft blog here:
6 Tips To Keep Writing When It Feels Like the World Is Falling Apart
Image credit: Photo by Suzy Hazelwood from Pexels
by Jenna | Aug 4, 2020 | Final Draft Articles
Last week I wrote a piece for the Final Draft blog about 7 creative strategies to survive distance learning AND keep writing this fall.
Like many parents, school is majorly on my mind right now, so I’ve been thinking about how best to work with the situation as best I can. One thing I didn’t include in the article (and maybe should have) was how my husband and I are already dividing up the week into a split schedule so we each have solid chunks of protected work time. We’ll adapt that more as we move into the school season.
“The goal is simply to move forward. The goal is to progress, however slowly, in a productive direction. It is the realization that this is, now more than ever, a game of inches and not of miles.”
— Chuck Wendig
With many school districts here in the U.S. planning to open this fall with “full distance” or “hybrid” learning in short order, many writer-parents are anxiously wondering how to keep working their day jobs — let alone keep writing and preserve our well-being — on top of being full-time educators. (And even if you’re not in the U.S., let’s face it: writing and parenting always requires creative planning to pull off, so hopefully this is useful to you, too.)
As someone who has been working from home since 2002 (I’ve kept my business running through my two boys’ early childhoods; they’re now 6 and 12), I’ve come into this situation knowing firsthand how frustrating it can be to try to eke out time and space for work and writing in the midst of taking care of children. And managing distance learning only complicates the care.
Having said that, I also know it’s possible to continue to write, even when pressed for time, energy, and mental bandwidth.
Let me share with you a few things I’ve learned over the years.
Read the article on the Final Draft blog here —> 7 Creative Strategies to Survive “Distance Learning” and Keep Writing This Fall
Image credit: Photo by Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels
by Jenna | Dec 3, 2016 | Writing Articles
Many people think writing is something that happens when we're inspired -- struck by a lightning bolt of ideas, if you will. That when we're inspired we just naturally "find" time to write.
And in a perfect world, that'd be true. (And in a perfect world we'd all have mentors and patrons supporting us to fulfill our creative callings!)
The truth is though, most of us are busy with day jobs, families, and other commitments in addition to our writing, so we have to take a different approach.
Creating Your Writer's Schedule Is About Intentionally Making Time to Write
We don't find time to write. We make time to write.
And making time to write requires being intentional. Writing doesn't "just happen."
When a writer comes to me with a book or script to finish, first I find out about their deadline, and whether it's a self-created deadline or an industry deadline. Then I ask about when they have time write.
Sometimes they have answers, sometimes they don't. Usually it's in the form of some general notions about when they could write or how and when they are already writing (if they are), which is a terrific place to start.
From there I ask a lot of questions about their ideal writing times, other habits, routines, and obligations and we co-create a weekly Target Writing Schedule. We use a weekly schedule because it's a repeatable model writers can carry forward with them throughout the whole year, adjusting as needed when major schedule changes or variations occur. (My Ultimate Writer's Toolkit includes a simple step-by-step process to walk you through creating your personal Ideal Writing Schedule and Target Writing Schedule.)
We call it a target schedule because we know that sometimes life goes awry and we don't hit our targets, but this way we know what to do when that happens -- just flow back into the plan the next day or at the first available opportunity. It's like having a regular work schedule. You get sick and miss a day, and then go right back to work when you get better.
The Magic Happens When You Make a Writer's Schedule
So much magic happens when you make your writer's schedule:
- You become more intentional about writing, and more aware of any choices you make that stop you from writing.
- You make writing a priority in your life, and validate that priority as you put it into action.
- You have an easier time keeping writing appointments with yourself when they're planned into your day.
- You raise the bar on the professionalism you're bringing to your writing. There's a chasm between hoping to write and scheduling writing, and putting it on your calendar helps you bridge that gap. It's about turning pro.
- You become far more likely to protect your writing time from scheduling other meetings or events during those time slots.
- You create a container for your writing, so when you have a project you want to complete, you know just how and when you'll do it.
- You become much more likely to stay on track with finishing your project without getting burnt out, or ending up in binge-writing mode struggling to meet a deadline at the last minute.
- You know when and how to reboot yourself if you get off track one day -- you go back to the schedule the next day.
If you're looking ahead to writing seriously in 2017, start by setting up your writer's schedule, so you'll be ready to hit the ground running when the clock turns.
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by Jenna | Jun 12, 2013 | Writing Articles
When you first start a new habit, it’s awkward.
I’ve made the mistake more than a few times in my life of throwing in the towel if I “blow it” early in the process of building a habit.
Over time, I’ve come to see a misstep like that as a little “Oops!” and either go for a do-over or a promise myself to start again tomorrow.
This is part of why we make sure to hold our writing community as a guilt-free zone. Yes, we’re encouraging people to write every day (and when I say we, I mean me and the other coaches for the writing community). And we also keep in mind that we are doing deep, hard work, and there will be missteps and challenges along the way. We’ve ALL struggled to create habits, and it’s no good punishing ourselves when we get off course.
I’ve seen some terrific examples of people who started out just focusing on writing 5 to 15 minutes a day and now have completed novels and scripts they can call their own. It’s very exciting!
As you embark on a new habit, here are a few things to keep in mind.
1. Remember that building a new habit can be awkward — be gentle with yourself about it.
Give yourself lots of space to make mistakes and get back on track. Don’t throw in the towel too early like I did. Instead, see anything that doesn’t work as information about what you might want to adjust as you go forward.
Recently I’ve been experimenting with increasing my daily writing time and shifting my schedule so that my writing takes an even more central role in my life. As I’ve been doing so, I’ve found myself fumbling my pretty-well established gym habit and getting caught in some awkward procrastination moments. Instead of deciding, “This isn’t working,” I’m tweaking my approach and studying my results every day to see what I can learn about what might work better for me tomorrow.
2. Approach habit building with an experimental mindset.
Along these same lines, if you approach your writing — or ANY habit — with the spirit of experimentation, you can give yourself some freedom to keep exploring until you find something that DOES work, instead of feeling like a failure for what doesn’t.
For instance, let’s say you’re trying to build a habit of writing daily and you start by committing to 5 minutes a day. But every day you find yourself not getting around to it at the end of the day and feeling too exhausted to do it. That’s good information, right? Waiting until the end of the day isn’t working. What else could you try? Morning writing? Lunchtime writing? Committing to write for 5 minutes at a specific time of day with a friend who will also write for 5 minutes at the same time?
3. If you have a rebellious nature, factor that into your plan.
If you tend to rebel against schedules and structures, try to factor that in as you plan for your new habit.
I find myself “getting all tragic” if I try to force myself to write seven days a week. (My writing community members got a real laugh out of me saying that on one of our live coaching calls once.) Instead, I’ve committed to writing six days per week, always giving myself one day off from writing. It feeds my inner rebel and helps me feel refreshed for jumping back into writing the next day.
4. Know your procrastination tipping point and adjust accordingly.
On the other hand, you’ll also want to pay attention to when it starts to get hard to restart if and when you take days off. I’ve found that if I don’t write for a stretch of time, it’s HARD getting back on track. Up until now I’ve found that taking two days off is the point at which it gets hard for me to restart the next day, but I’m going to experiment with it further now that I’m increasing my weekday writing time.
So notice the point at which it becomes hard to restart and consider not exceeding that point whenever possible.
5. Know that it’s better to start small and start now — something is more than nothing.
Most of us who work with building regular writing habits are here for a reason — we struggle with procrastination and perfectionism more often than not (they feed each other in an endless cycle of perfectionism, procrastination, and paralysis).
An important mindset shift you’ll want to make is recognizing the value of SOME progress versus NO progress. If I had written for 15 minutes every day for the last 10 years, I’d have at least 8 to 10 scripts under my belt at the same rate I’ve been developing my current one. No guilt or blame though, just a fact.
Also, know that when you’re habit building, you’ll want to go for doing ANYTHING first, then work up to more. We like to have our writers in the writing community write even for just five minutes a day or just focus on logging in to our online site every day for the first week — simply to put the focus and attention on the writing on a daily, regular basis. After that, it gets easier to bump it up to more over time.
So remember, frequency and consistency, not quantity, at least to start. Later you can go for consistency AND quantity. :)
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