Finish Writing Your Book: Time Management, Discipline & Boundaries

In my last post I talked about FINISHING writing your book, and now you now have the tools and the know-how to do so. Now, you need to create the ideal environment around you to ensure your success. And just like committing to finishing your book, you are going to have to get TOUGH in order to create this ideal environment. So here are three things you need to put in place.

1. Time ManagementBefore you can manage the time, you need to set the time. Commit time every day to work on finishing your book. It can be an hour, or just ten minutes. Whatever works for you. But you must make the time. It won’t fall in your lap. 

   You have a full time job, you say?

   Kids?

   A full-on gym schedule?

   Here’s what I have to say to that: Find a way, not an excuse.

   If you really want this, you will make it work.

   Okay, now that we’ve set the time, we can manage the time. You’ve set out to finish writing your book, which is a daunting experience. But how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time, of course!

   You’ve figured out how much time per day you can dedicate to finishing your book. So what are you going to do with that time?

   Can you write/type one page of your novel? Five?

   Can you reread/rewrite one scene, one page, five scenes, five pages?

   Make your daily writing goals easy for you to achieve within your designated time frame. Something I also do to keep my motivation up is to keep track of whatever I’ve done in any one day toward completing my goal. I list it at the bottom of that day’s diary page. It allows me to reflect on what I’ve achieved that day, and when I’m feeling demotivated, I can look back over all the previous pages as well and see how much work I’ve actually gotten done!

2. DisciplineOkay, now you know how much time you can dedicate daily to finishing your book, and what you need to do to manage that time. Now you need to commit to that time! And just like you need to make the time to finish writing your book, you need to make the discipline happen too, because the odds are certainly going to be against you!
   Anything and everything will challenge that time you’ve set aside for your writing, and before you know it, that time has slipped away from you, STOLEN from you, filled up with life’s other demands and distractions! You must stand strong, say no, and commit to your writing time.
   But outside influences aren’t the only threats to your designated writing time. Your own motivation and will is the biggest threat of all!

    YOU must hold yourself accountable for your writing time.

   YOU must discipline yourself.

   You have set a goal you can easily commit and stick to. You’ve got this!!!

3. BoundariesRight, you’ve disciplined yourself to commit to your writing time. Now you need to get your household on board!
   Your household needs to be trained to respect your writing time. Our writing time can often be viewed by other members of the household as something leisurely, and as a result it can be easily interrupted. People can come into our writing space to have a chat or show us something cool on YouTube, completely disregarding the importance of what we are already doing. This is certainly not done out of disrespect, not because they don’t care. They just don;t realise just how precious our writing time is, and how important it is that we are allowed to focus.
   You need to set boundaries with your partner/children/housemates, and ensure that you are able to concentrate fully. They aren’t going to value it if you don’t!

   I hope you have found these three tips helpful in finishing writing your novel! To ensure you never miss my writing & publishing tips and advice, be sure to SUBSCRIBE to this blog to receive email notifications!

   
   My books are available WORLDWIDE in paperback and ebook!