Life can be busy! There’s the lawn to mow, meals to prepare, your day job, diaper duty, and a million other things that can get in the way of sitting down to write on a regular schedule. Fortunately, the time-management experts at Writer’s Relief have some smart ideas that will help you find 30 minutes to write, even on a busy day. Check out these great tips!

How To Find 30 Minutes To Write On A Busy Day

Time management is a constant challenge for writers, especially when so many other tasks are vying for your attention. Too often, writing gets pushed aside with promises to yourself of “I’ll do it tomorrow.” But then tomorrow comes, along with a new list of tasks to get done. Whether it’s once a day or once a week, it’s important to stick to your writing schedule. Your writing is a worthy task and deserves its scheduled time! The best way to make sure you have some time to write on a busy day is to ferret out all the little ways you lose time—and don’t even realize it’s happening.

Get Organized

The more organized you are, the less time you’ll waste frantically searching for your keys, your wallet, or your tennis racket. Keep things in assigned places so you know exactly where they are and don’t lose precious minutes running in circles. Deciding what to ditch and what to keep on your writing desk will also help you find exactly what you need when you’re ready to start work on your short story, essay, poem, or chapter of your novel.

Eliminate Sneaky Time-Stealers

Keep a time log for a week broken down into fifteen-minute increments so you can capture the time-stealing activities you don’t even realize you’re doing. Email, social media, cleaning, and interruptions are just a few time-stealers we actually can control. Set certain times for these activities and stick to those schedules. You can also use downtime that occurs during your day to squeeze in these tasks so your writing time remains untouched.

When you review your time log, you’ll also discover how much time you lose while surfing the Internet to watch cute cat videos, playing games on your smartphone, or scrolling through your newsfeed. Stop these time-draining activities and you’ll be surprised at how much more time you have available for writing!

Use Technology

This tip may seem counterintuitive to writers, but technology can help you find more time to write. Installing software like Grammarly or using your smartphone or tablet as a portable writing tool can help you sneak more writing time into your day. You can also use the Internet productively to cut down on hours of research. Whether you need grammar tips, or to research your story’s setting, or want to check out a list of great names for your protagonist, websites with the answers are only a click away.

Waiting for your doctor’s appointment? Timing batches of cookies in the oven? Use this found time to either do research or check your emails so the task is finished and won’t interfere with your scheduled writing time. You can jot down ideas for your latest writing project or make some quick edits. Grabbing a few minutes throughout your day is an easy way to reclaim thirty minutes of newfound writing time!

Determine Your Most Productive Time Of Day

Knowing when you’re most productive can help you decide what time of day is best for writing and other tasks. If you’re a night owl, trying to write before breakfast will likely result in you snoozing next to your coffee cup. Likewise, an early bird will be hard-pressed to write volumes after midnight. Matching your energy level to your task will allow you to get more done in the allotted time frame. This quick quiz will help you zero in on your best time of day to focus on writing: Self-Test: What’s Your Best Time Of Day To Write?

One Last Tip…

An easy way to gain more writing time in your day is to hire experts to handle the busywork of making your writing submissions. Who? Writer’s Relief! We can’t help with diaper duty or lawn care, but we can do all the research needed to find you the very best markets for your work while you simply focus on writing.

Question: What’s your go-to tip for finding more time to write during the day?