A Writing Practice - Yes, Even Now

We're headed into the time of the term and year when my clients almost uniformly tell me they are unable to "find time" for writing among their grading and other obligations. What they mean is that their calendar does not permit hours-long blocks of uninterrupted time for musing and typing. 

Whose schedule does, these days? I'm here to tell you that even under these conditions - in fact, especially under these conditions - you need a writing practice. 

Writing productivity experts almost uniformly agree that the foundation of writing productivity is a writing practice. Just like a musical instrument or a sport, practice is the key to success. Failure to practice regularly results in a degradation of skills and a reduction in our ability to sustain that activity for a long duration of time. Ever tried to resume a sport after a long period off? Remember how rusty you were, and what it felt like the next day?
 
For writing, that means daily or near-daily writing, even for very short periods. Five minutes, or even ten, a day adds up surprisingly fast. Five minutes a day means an extra pomodoro – nearly a half-hour – of writing per week, likely with scraps of time stolen from between other tasks. Ten – either as one block or two smaller ones, say one after coffee and one after lunch – adds nearly an hour of writing time a week to your productivity.
 
The other thing that daily writing does is that it helps keep your writing project in the active part of your mind. No more slow starts, dredging up memories of where you left off or wondering what you need to write about. Even on days you don’t write, your subconscious brain is still thinking about it and producing material for you to write when it is time to write again.
 
You can facilitate quick starts and productive writing even in short spurts by outlining aggressively during what longer periods of writing time you have. A detailed outline allows you to leap in at any point with a paragraph or two, and then jump out again, and return at a later time. If you’re not confident in your outlining skills, I’ll be offering that workshop in probably late January, so watch this space for details.