Frustrating, isn’t it?
Perhaps you made a cracking start but lost momentum. Perhaps you've hit a tricky patch and aren't sure what to do next. Perhaps life just got in the way.
Whatever the reason, you're not making the progress you'd like.
Writing anything significant is a marathon - particularly when there’s no hard deadline or someone waiting for your draft. Here are 5 surefire ways to speed up your writing process (and AI doesn’t even get a look in.)
There's no hack, silver bullet or magic pill to avoid this marathon I speak of BUT the good news is that these actions don’t involve getting up at 5am or abandoning your family and move to a remote cottage.
You just need to give yourself a fighting chance to get cracking again.
Try these to do exactly that.
1. Define what progress realistically looks like
One of the problems with a big writing project is that there's always SO MUCH TO DO.
It can feel like you're getting nowhere if you constantly measure your progress against the finished project you have in mind.
Instead, ask yourself: What would meaningful progress look like for me right now?
Perhaps it's finishing a scene, sorting out a character's motivation, rewriting an opening or making a decision about the ending.
Progress isn't always about getting more words on the page.
Sometimes figuring out what you're trying to say, making a creative decision or identifying why something isn't working is exactly the progress you need.
DO THIS: Write down ONE thing you could achieve this week that would genuinely move your project forward.
2. Stop waiting for the perfect writing opportunity
Ah yes. The mythical day when all your other responsibilities have been taken care of, the house is a vision, your inbox is empty and you've got six glorious, uninterrupted hours to write.
Good luck with that.
The trouble with waiting for the perfect opportunity is that it rarely arrives.
And while a substantial chunk of writing time can be dreamy, smaller, focused sessions can be surprisingly productive.
Twenty minutes is enough to sketch a scene, brainstorm a few ideas, work on a character or tackle a paragraph that's been giving you grief.
No, you not going to finish your novel in 20 minutes. But you can certainly move it forward.
And that's the point.
DO THIS: Make a list of three small writing tasks you could tackle in 20 minutes. Next time you've got a spare window, pick one and get stuck in.
3. Make your next TASK ridiculously easy
"Work on novel."
Sound like a familiar item on the TO-DO list? Yes, and also mildly terrifying
It's the kind of thing we put on our to-do lists with the best of intentions.
But it’s about as helpful as writing "Sort out retirement."
Big, vague tasks are an invitation to procrastinate.
Small, specific tasks? Much more manageable and do-able.
Instead of "Work on screenplay", try "Write the scene where Sam discovers the truth."
Instead of "Fix my plot", try "Brainstorm five ways my protagonist could make things worse."
Instead of "Rewrite Chapter Four", try "Figure out why the argument between the sisters feels flat."
You don't have to tackle the entire project. Just the next step to moving it forward.
DO THIS: Break your next writing goal into three small, specific actions. Make the first one so manageable that you can get started without a major internal negotiation.
4. Allow yourself to write something dreadful
Perfectionism. It’s so unhelpful. You can waste much time and energy trying to get something perfect. There’s time for improving waaaay down the track.
But right now, NO ONE is reading it but you. You’re stressing so hard about what some imagined person in the future will think of your work it’s stopping you finishing.
What if you let yourself write something dreadful?
Not permanently, obviously - you’re hardly going to send your messy draft off to a publisher. But there's a time for getting material onto the page and a time for making it better.
If you insist on polishing every sentence before moving on, you're making the whole process considerably harder and lengthier than it needs to be.
A messy first draft gives you something to work with.
A blank page? Not so much.
TRY THIS: Set a timer for 15 minutes and write without stopping to edit. No fiddling with sentences. No checking facts. Just write. And repeat.
5. Stop giving your writing the “leftover scraps”
If your writing matters to you, why does it get whatever time and energy is left over after everything else?
Work. Family. Friends. Housework. Admin. That cupboard you've suddenly decided needs tidying.
And because writing is something you want to do rather than something you're obliged to do, it's easy to bump it down the list.
The problem is that if you keep waiting until everything else is done, your writing project may be waiting a very long time. FACT: THE TO-DO LIST NEVER ENDS.
So, give your project some proper space in your calendar.
Not a vague promise to write "sometime this weekend".
An actual appointment.
It might be an hour on a Tuesday evening, a couple of mornings a week or one substantial writing session each month.
Whatever works for your life.
That way you've made a commitment to your writing and you're signalling to your brain that it’s important and something worth showing up for.
Because it is.
DO THIS: Book your next writing session into your calendar. Decide what you're going to work on BEFORE you sit down.