One of the most common issues I see with writing students and editing clients is simply finding the time to write. The simple solution is to make a writing schedule, setting aside specific time when you will sit down at your laptop or with your notebook and do whatever relates to your writing — be it researching, editing, drafting, or staring out the window, imagining you story world.

These are all productive tasks, and they all take time to work through. Don’t cheat yourself by saying you don’t have time to revise, and don’t berate yourself for time spent at the keyboard where you are thinking and planning, but not physically writing words.

Having a specific writing goal also helps. If you know you want to complete a novel in six months, you can sit down and calculate how much time you need to spend every week in order to accomplish your goal. Then, look for holes in your schedule where you can plug in time to complete the needed word count.

If your schedule is packed, you may need to get creative. Consider:

Early morning – Can you write for twenty minutes or an hour before everyone gets up?

Late at night – Can you write for a bit after everyone in your household goes to bed?

While doing repetitive tasks – Can you dictate while you fold the laundry?

While commuting – Folks have completed entire novels on their phones while riding the bus.

Sometimes when folks get busy, the first things that get put to the side are the very things that help preserve our mental health. If writing is a hobby, or an aspiring career for which you don’t have deadlines, it can be easy to justify setting aside your writing time to focus on other things. And yes, sometimes that becomes necessary in the case of a personal or family crisis. But even if you can’t focus on a piece of fiction, journaling can help you process difficult emotions and find ways to cope.