I’m struggling to get into a set routine and schedule for my writing work and reading, along with my work around the house, errands, and time with my sons and husband.
I keep telling myself I need to set concrete blocks of writing and reading time in the mornings when I’m most alert, active, and creative.
But I get easily distracted by social media, news stories, and every day life events.
In the past three days, I managed to type up two and a half chapters in my work-in-progress, What She Didn’t Know. I did so at the spur of the moment, when I had a minute. Incidentally, my story is up to 75,000+ words and getting closer to the end. I need to continue on this upward moving path!
My ideal schedule would be 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., but that rarely works due to certain activities that happen once or twice a week at my church at 9:15 and 10:00 a.m.
Do I just make those days exceptions?
Something has to work and keep me focused.
Perhaps I should force myself out of bed and start at 6:00 a.m. and finish up around 11:00 a.m. Maybe my dilly-dallying will be overtaken by my desire to write.
Sure, Dorothy. It hasn’t so far. Ugh
It also doesn’t change the two church group activities I like to attend, but I can at least work on my writing three to four times a week.
The thing is, I also write and read in the evenings, usually from around 8:00 or 9:00 pm. to 10:00 or 11:00 p.m.
Looking into this dilemma, I found that one should write during one part of the day and read during another part.
So, I am going to work on a schedule I can stick with by writing in the morning and reading in the evening before I go to sleep. It must become a regular routine and habit for me to accomplish this. Wish me luck!
What’s your writing and reading schedule? Has it worked well for you?
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Modest Musings 
Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines!
I struggle with the same issue, writing is sometimes like dieting, difficult if you try to be a puritan. I give myself some wriggle room but try to maintain a schedule of small and big deadlines to keep myself motivated.
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That is a good plan, Joanne. Thanks for your comment. š
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Having almost no social media works wonders for me. I keep a writing blog where I connect with readers and other writers, and that’s very nice š Otherwise, I ignore the online world at large.
I hope you find what works for you!
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Smart, Yari! Thanks for sharing your strategies for writing!
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Writing first thing in the morning–and NOT turning on my internet–totally helps. Are you able to write on a device that is solely a word processor so you don’t have to worry about notifications distracting you? If not, are you able to just turn off all dings, bells, whistles and pop-up windows for your writing sessions? That’s my suggestion!
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I’m on my laptop that, of course, I can go to social media, but I never have notifications on for anything other than upcoming appointments, but those are only on my phone. So that’s not a distraction, thankfully. š Yeah, I close the windows when I’m in my document typing. š And I finished my WIP a few days before I thought I would, which is mentioned in my most recent blog post, “Celebrating!” ^_^ Thanks for the suggestion, Kate!
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