You cannot make time

Writing goals that don't make you feel shitty, part two

A note: You may recall that I wrote about staying in your own dance space when setting writing goals last month, promising to return with two more posts in that series. If you were worried that I had completely forgotten about the series while frolicking in the Berlin summer and running around London for a week, you were right to wonder.

But this morning I woke up with a mental itch… “Unfinished series!” I thought. And so here we are.

Stay in your own dance space

Early in my Berlin life, I went to frequent German classes.

Having read Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris multiple times, these classes gave me so much joy. My classmates were from all over the world, everywhere from Italy to Spain to Japan to Australia. There were also a few other Americans.

One particular exchange a fellow American student had with our teacher has never left me. For the full visual, you should know she was nine months pregnant.

STUDENT: (I am translating from German directly to English) This is important to me, so I make time for it.

TEACHER: What did you just say?

STUDENT: (repeats previous statement as if it’s a question, looking nervous)

TEACHER: Make time? What are you talking about? You cannot make time. What are you, god?

STUDENT (+ me, in Stereo): You can make time in English!

TEACHER: (shakes head in disgust)

This, my friends, explains most of the anxieties writers have.

We make writing schedules as if we can conjure more time out of thin air. We also assume we are superhuman, need almost no sleep, and have nothing else to do but write all day long.

Examples of students’ and clients’ statements, when in the grip of this delusion:

• “I should be able to write at least two hours a day.”

• “I’ll make more time for writing, otherwise I’ll never finish the book.”

• “I’m not writing this book fast enough.”

• “I need loads more time to make progress.”

• “Maybe if I just lock myself in and do nothing but write, I’ll get this done.”

An effective writing routine fits the life you have now.

If the plan you have to finish your book requires you to cut off all social contact, sleep 4-5 hours a night, eat in a fugue state in front of the fridge without registering what you’re having, and to say no to every fun thing you’re invited to, it’s not going to work.

At this point, I’ve worked with hundreds of students and clients to build routines that result in actual writing.

Here are the steps:

1. Assess how you are actually spending your time currently.
   My preferred method for this is to mark up a weekly calendar with my appointments and commitments every Monday, so I see what time is already claimed. I use a Mark + Fold Diary/Planner because I love how minimal and customizable it is. You can see a tour of this in my “How to Keep a Writing Notebook Workshop”¹.

   
   Once I see how my real life is claiming my time, I’m able to make more reasonable goals for my writing that week. This could also be done monthly if you like big plans, but I find a weekly review works best for me.

2. If there is anything you’re dying to cut from your schedule now, go for it.
   How did you feel entering the commitments you have in your planner? We all have things we need to do that we don’t love, but for anything optional you no longer enjoy, see if you can offload it. We’re not trying to fight with reality here. If you make a plan that requires you to pretend you don’t have kids or a demanding day job, writing is going to become disappointing quickly.
   
   However, if you haven’t enjoyed your book club for a while or it’s time for another class parent to step up and handle the bake sale this year, say that glorious word “no” and reap the benefit of extra time.

3. Set a goal for how much and how often you want to write.
   By now you know we can’t trust the part of you who thinks it’s reasonable to get up super early and write if you routinely have insomnia, right? Or the part of you who thinks you never need to have an actual break for lunch and can just write straight through and go back to work immediately?
   
   This part gets cranky, so we will let them weigh in with a goal they think you should be able to do. Ahem. Stay with me…

4. Cut that goal in half.
   That’s right. Even if you agree that the goal your ambitious self set is doable, what is far more important is for you to build up the experience of setting goals and being able to accomplish them. If you set a goal where everything needs to go perfectly for you to hit it, that is an unhelpful goal. It’s a bit like calculating how long it will take to drive somewhere in LA without factoring in traffic.
   
   It is always ok to exceed your goal if you have the energy and are on a roll, but our goal is in the minimum amount you write and get credit for having written that day. We want you to have this result even if you’ve had a crappy day. So make sure this goal is “bad day” doable. If it needs to be smaller than half, cut it down. I had a student who wrote “two crappy sentences a day” for a few horrible months when there was a load of work and personal stuff she couldn’t get out of. But she managed that and stayed connected to the book the whole time.

5. Throw me under the bus when the critic revolts.
   As soon as you cut the goal in half, your critic will start freaking out. You can count on this reaction. It will tell you there is no point in writing at all if you only have fifteen minutes a day or five minutes a day, or write one page or a paragraph a day.
   
   There is a point. I planned an entire novel during a busy month when I only had 10-15 minutes a day for writing. You can do way more in short chunks than you think.
   
   If your critic continues to panic, tell it you’re just trying out this method this weird lady wrote about on Substack. I don’t mind being a scapegoat for the critic. My students use me this way all the time and it works brilliantly.

6. Do the half goal until it feels “bad day” easy.
   The important thing is consistency and showing up for your writing when you promised yourself you would. Track the days you write. I like a blank calendar or sheet of paper with a grid where you can add a sticker for each day you write. Seeing all those stickers is proof that you can show up and keep going. Don’t force yourself to exceed your goal out of fear it isn’t enough. Only keep going when you can’t bear to stop because you’re enjoying yourself.
   
   Keep this up until you can’t imagine skipping your writing session. When it feels as important as brushing your teeth or having that first cup of coffee, you can go on to the next step.

7. Increase the goal slightly. Do NOT double it.
   This is a delicate point. The critic might admit I wasn’t totally nuts with this plan, but now it will want to leap in and get you to a “respectable” amount of writing. Resist. Increase by 10-15% and see how it feels. You can always go back to the earlier goal. You can also always increase in a week if this feels just as easy. Better to go slow and keep the feeling of trust you’ve built with yourself.

8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 until you reach cruising altitude.
   The ultimate balance comes when you have a schedule that feels manageable in your current life but also allows you to make meaningful progress. If you can see pages adding up in your manuscript without feeling like everything else in your life is paying a hefty price, you’ve found it.
   
   This is an experiment, of course. Check in with yourself regularly. It’s ok to be flexible and make plans that suit the schedule you have, especially if it varies.

9. Return to Step One after any breaks, interruptions, or other life jolts.
   Of course, we want to think there is one perfect writing schedule that will work for you forever, but this has not been the case for me or any other writer I know. There will be curveballs and changes in life, and if you or people you’re responsible for get sick, you have a crazy deadline, go on vacation and want an actual break, this will require easing back into things. I recommend beginning at step one for those moments. Don’t hit things too hard and risk burning yourself out from the get-go.
   
   This also applies when you move on to the next stage in the writing process. If you’ve finished a draft and then move into revision, or if you’ve restructured your story and are diving back in to write another draft, or a similar change in process, start from step one. Being warmed up to draft does not mean you can revise at that pace from a cold start, nor is the reverse true.

You have nothing to prove

You don’t have to convince anyone you’re a “real writer” based on your writing schedule. It’s far better to have a plan that makes you feel you can accomplish it without wearing yourself out than to charge into the jaws of burnout.

I wrote Writing through Fear in five hours a week, one hour per weekday, over three and a half months, before I sent it to my editor. If I had tried to write it faster, I suspect it would have taken the same time in the end, because I would have needed to stop and rest along the way with a more grueling pace.

With the hour a day method, I could easily sustain other commitments in work and life and got to the end of the book production process with enough energy to promote and market it.

You may write however works for you and your schedule. Just taking the time to reflect, as you’ve done here, will get you up and running in no time.

Happy writing!

Share your “reasonable” and halved writing goals in the comments below, as well as how the new goal feels. I can’t wait to see these.

1. This workshop is available to all paid subscribers of Book Alchemy. If you’re already a paid subscriber, just click here to see it:

https://www.book-alchemy.com/p/workshop-keeping-a-writing-notebook