Writing Time Guilt

I'm a writer.

Writing is my job.

Or, more accurately, part of my job.

The fact I'm an author and a blogger qualifies me to mentor my clients on blogging or book writing. And the fact that my day job has been as a trainer, and more recently, a business advisor for the past 20 odd years qualifies me to mentor businesses on blogging and book writing.

In 2015, my world as a writer and my world as a business advisor collided and I started my own consultancy business.

These days I trade as 'Learn To Love Your Words'.

I need both things to run my business.

 

So, why I do feel such a sense of guilt about 'wasting time' on writing?

Madness, isn't it? Especially when I see it written down like this!

I suppose I'm posing this as more of a philosophical question, and one I'm not sure I have an answer to.

Yet, blogging about something helps me to work through it - like a kind of 'self-coaching'!

At the start of 2018, I went through my diary and blocked out every Monday and every Friday for writing/admin time.

I set a recurring reminder in my outlook calendar too, so every Sunday evening and every Thursday evening my computer helpfully reminds me that tomorrow is writing day.

Somehow, permission from my computer doesn't seem to be enough!

Is this just the maddening musings of an author? 
Or, is there some underlying preconception at play here?... 
Or, can I just swathe the whole thought process under the rather convenient, yet terribly demotivating label of 'Procrastination'?

Somehow, giving it a name makes it into 'a thing'. Like suddenly diagnosing a disease. Then we give ourselves an excuse to have a victim mentality and throw an extravagant, imagined, pity party.

F that! 

I don't need, want or deserve pity for my inability to knuckle down and write, I need solutions. 





But not some Elastoplast or pill to pop, something I can work through myself!

It's not 'creative block'.

It's a time allocation block.

I can't help but ask myself where it stems from?

Is it a Cultural or Societal perception?

Part of me wonders if it was the years in my childhood of being told by authority figures (Teachers, Careers Advisors etc.) that being an author was not a 'proper job'.

In Thatcher's Capitalistic-Orgasm that was 1980's Britain (when I was at school), only jobs that made money had any value.

In fact, we still hold this 'class' mentality at the heart of our national psyche, and class is defined by financial means. The implication being that if you don't have financial means, you're worth-less. If you're poor, it's your own fault for not working hard enough.

We instil this idea into our children from the moment they join formal education. It's about passing exams, not learning to learn.

It's about achieving results in areas that can be easily quantified and scrutinised.

Arts, humanities, creativity are overlooked in the pursuit of academic excellence.

Is it my own inability to appropriately prioritise?

I seem perfectly able to prioritise the other part of 'my job' - in fact, the admin/writing days, invariable become admin only days.

However, I manage to blog in that time, and after all, my whole philosophy around blogging is that it's a creative non-fiction writing process. 

My mentoring practice is centred on the notion that there are too many bad blogs because people approach blogging like an academic exercise. Filling it with jargon and sticking only to factual information. 

Much of my work is helping mentees to 'unlearn' the approach to writing instilled in them through years of academia and corporate speak. 

Embrace the creativity, enjoy the process, because when you enjoy something, you make time for it. 

I want them to 'learn to love' their words.

Is it the instant gratification of blogging?

 

When I had this conversation with a friend, she pointed out the instant gratification of blogging. 

The instant gratification inherent in the way we live our lives. 

Constructing an entire book takes time, stamina, discipline, commitment.

On some level, I'm fulfilling some of my creative writing urges through blogging.

Is it a financial consideration?

My Amazon book sales are, if I'm honest, woeful, and have been for the past year at least. 

I don’t do enough to market my books. 

But why should I? 

I can get one consultancy client, do a couple of hours work with them and earn the equivalent of 200 book sales.

When you look at the cold hard financial facts like that, investing my energy in my consultancy business is a no brainer.

But... then I remind myself that I don't write books to make money. 

In fact, anyone who writes books to make money is doing it for the wrong reasons (and is likely to get a rude awakening and be sorely disappointed).

"Anyone who writes books to make money is doing it for the wrong reason."

Is it a lack of accountability?

I've tried declaring to the world that 'I've started writing a book', in the hope it will motivate me to crack on with it.

My mother's tiresome, weekly, "so, have you given up writing then?" question is met with a roll of the eyes now, rather than a sense of shame. I'm immune to her opinions and assumptions at my age!

As I spew out this stream of consciousness to anyone tolerant enough to read it (thanks for sticking with me), as I mull over it, and transmit the results through my fingers into the keyboard, I'm forced to conclude that... it's a bit of everything.

It feels like a cop-out, but it's a multifaceted dilemma. 

My guilt stems from:

Societal perception - I 'should' spend time doing 'real work' - like invoicing, running workshops and record keeping.

Prioritisation - I'm not respecting my own boundaries and using the time in my diary for 'more important tasks'

Seeking gratification - It's easier to blog, because it's more immediate.

Financial Consideration - I tell myself "I'm not yet financially secure enough for the luxury of writing". (I need to change the story I tell myself).

Accountability - Do I just need someone (other than my mum, who I rarely listen to anyway!) to kick me in the butt!

And the solution?

I'm still figuring that out!

How Setting Yourself a Writing Challenge Will Help You Get Sh1t Done!

November is National Novel Writing Month -  NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo is an international movement to encourage budding wordsmiths to spend a focussed period of time, working on a book. 

The idea is to write 50,000 words in a month, which translates to roughly 1,600 words a day. 

A tall order and a tough challenge. 

You have to be committed to write that many words every day. You need a plan, you need discipline and you need to not faff around self-editing as you go! The idea is just to let the words come, stream of consciousness. It’s the one time when quantity trumps quality, because the point of the exercise is to get the words out of your head an onto the page, so you can do something with them. 

I’ve successfully completed the challenge twice. 

Once in 2013 when I started writing my second book, Solomon’s Secrets and once in 2015 when I was writing my 4th book Gabriel's Game, Part 2: The Black Knight.

After writing and publishing the four novels of the Sheridan and Blake series in quick succession over four years, I’ve not started a new fiction project for around 18 months. 

Most of my writing in 2016 and 2017 has been non-fiction, blogs, content and training materials as I have built up my Amy Morse consultancy business. 

However, one of my goals for 2018 is to publish another fiction book. 

I shared some tips in a previous blog on planning and executing a successful NaNoWriMo, based on my experience with my books, but NaNo has not been my only writing challenge. 

I completed and published my first book, The Bronze Box in 2013 as part of a 365 project – I did one thing a day for a whole year towards my goal of publishing a book. 

That was how I started blogging (read the story here) But I have also done a 'mini nano' in August and shared my tips in another blog. 

It’s time I took on another writing challenge. 

I recently read an article by Marc Guberti about banking a year’s worth of blog content. It’s inspired me to get ahead of myself for 2018 and really nail my content marketing for my Amy Morse, Write Your Way To Success consultancy business. 

The secret to completing any writing challenge is to break it down into manageable steps. 

50,000 words sounds a lot in 30 days (and it is). But when you break it down, 1,600 words a day

sounds more manageable. 

Writing a book is a big deal but really, it's just one word after another...

When you break it down further, that’s 2 stints a day of writing 800 words. 

You can write 800 words in an hour if you focus and put your mind it. 
 
(More if you voice transcribe it!)

So, 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the afternoon and boom, you’ve written your 1,600 words. 

So, how does writing a year’s worth of blog content break down? 

I’m going to set my deadline as the end of the year. 

That gives me just under 2 months. 

I need 24 articles – 2 blogs a month and I’ll also write some ad hoc content in between, and continue to host guests so I can publish a blog every week. 

In my coaching practice with businesses, I recommend minimum 1 blog a month, working up to once a week. 

As a seasoned blogger and writing coach, I’ll be sticking to my routine of weekly blogging. 

So, we have 6 weeks until the end of the year, 24 blogs. That’s 4 blogs a week. 

I’m going to draft these blogs; they won’t be finished, so, I will draft them, then polish them as and when I publish (the chances are, I’ll probably want to change them on the day I publish them anyway). 

If we say an average blog is 800 words, which takes me an hour to bash out in draft form, that’s 24 hours of work. 

Let’s say, 4 hours a week or 1 hour 4 times a week. 

So, twice a week, I need to allow 2 hours for writing, for example, an hour Tuesday morning and afternoon then an hour Thursday Morning and afternoon. 

Or, I could write one article a day and easily have enough content written by the end of the year, but realistically, there will be days when I won’t find time to write as I have a busy schedule, especially in November. 

Another option, and I enjoy doing from time to time, is to take writing retreat days. 

I take myself off to somewhere for the day with the intention of just writing. 

I go to a hotel or a coffee shop and pitch camp for the day. 

It’s important to plan ahead and decide in advace what the goal for the day will be. 

However, experience has taught me that if I don't write regularly, and then try to cram it in a day, it rarely works out. 

For me, a combination of some regular, short stints of writing and a couple of chunks of time where I just write, is the most manageable and productive combination. 

So, my plan is to write a couple of times a week, plus have a couple of retreat days.

24 blog articles in 6 weeks - could you do that? 

Tell me in the comments, or select a letter...

a) Hell yeah! That's easy, I write every day!

b) If I made a plan, I could pull it off!

c) Maybe... I might need a kick up the backside to do it, though!

d) Maybe... but I'd get stuck for ideas!

e) No way! I'd never fit it in!

The Crippling Blank Page - One Tip to Get Writing

The toughest part of writing is getting started.

Having ideas is one thing, committing them to paper is quite another!

Ideas is not something I struggle with - I wrote about my 5 current book ideas back in May.

I'm still yet to make a decision on what fiction project to start next. Instead, my writing time has been filled with creating content for my upcoming eCourse - Build Your Blog. 10 step by step workshops to grow your business by blogging.

I've blogged about getting the creative juices flowing in the past too - 'Conquering Creative Constipation'.

But, there is one quick tip I want to share with you about how to get going in the first place. 

How to start on the journey into writing regularly, and building those all-important regular writing habits we must have in order to make progress with our writing project - be they creative or otherwise...

Whether you're writing a book or writing a blog, writing regularly, little and often, is the only way to do it!

Watch the video here:

One tip to get you going with writing: 

Write unintentionally! 

Happy writing!