Whether you are a fiction or nonfiction writer, my guess is that scheduled writings are, or could be, beneficial to you. If it were not for scheduled writings in my life, I would probably not get any writing done. And if you have done any type of writing whatsoever, whether it’s for work as in business letters or social media content or as a hobby and for pleasure as in letter-writing or creating greeting cards, then you understand what I mean.

I am a letter-writer at heart, and I have always benefited by putting my letter-writing and card-sending on my calendar. Sure, I can knock out a quick letter or card in a jiffy. But for most of my adult life, I have made sure to pencil in this joy on my monthly calendar. If not, the more urgent tasks in life will most certainly keep getting in the way. And my good intentions of writing my momma, or sending a get-well or birthday card to a good friend, will get lost in the shuffle of chores, a full-time job, and the importance of fitness, meals, and sleep.

Now that I am a published author, the need for scheduled writing time is more important than ever. There is the needed writing and editing time for my book-in-progress. And there is that endless writing to do on social media for my already published book. If you are an author as well, or the creator of any artwork, music, or other creative product, you know that all of this writing adds up to a lot of extra time that you may or not have available.

So, how do we find the time—and the energy—to write when we need to? Do we just grab it in chunks when it magically appears? Do we send the kids to the grandparents or skip a lunch hour to develop that outline or make a Facebook or Instagram post? Do we take off a day of vacation to meet our deadline? Or, do we come up with a plan for writing so that we can be more productive?

So, what works for me? Sure, I take a vacation day every now and then to unwind, run much-need errands, and catch up on life including family, friends, and chores. But I have not been successful at taking a full day off from my day job just to write. Because of this, I have developed a schedule of writing every few days. I don’t have a set schedule though, as I learned a long time ago to be flexible so that I didn’t become too disappointed when I failed to meet my goals.

My current writing schedule consists of blogging two to three times per week, posting on my social media accounts four to five times per week, and blocking out a few hours on one evening of the week or a weekend morning to write and edit my current book and plan the next one after that. How is this going? It has its moments, but for the most part I am successful in meeting most of the goals I have set.

Do I get interrupted once I sit down to finally write? Sure, but if something comes up unexpectedly that interferes with a writing evening or morning, then I simply move my writing time to the next day. Because every week is different, on Sundays I assess what my scheduled writings will look like for the coming week. So far, I am pleased with how things are going.

Do I take a day off completely from writing or from social media? I sure do. I have obsessive tendencies, so I can get carried away with writing, posting on social media, and schedules or to-do lists. It is just as important to take a day off from writing, here and there, to avoid burnout and to fuel creativity. Well, that’s my thinking on the subject, and I’m sticking to it for now. Plus, it gives me time off with hubs to do things we both enjoy.

In your writing endeavors, I encourage you to never give up, give yourself a break, and think about scheduled writings if you are not already following some system. I’m not big on rigid schedules, but I believe strongly that we all need some sort of structure to be the most productive we can be at achieving our goals.

If you are a writer, like me, having scheduled writings will be rewarding. You will get to enjoy being able to write more often, and you will also find that it is okay to not write every day. By having at least a simple schedule, and sticking to it as closely as you can, you will never let everyday life keep you from writing again.

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To see what my first book, “HONOR ONE ANOTHER: The ABCs of Embracing Our Spirit Within,” is like, please feel free to visit my books page or type my full name, Virginia Alice Crawford, into the search bar of Amazon, or you can visit my Amazon author page at:

amazon.com/author/virginia.alice.crawford

It took me about twelve and a half months to get this book written, edited, and published. If you like what you read in the preview, please consider your own copy, as well as copies for the book lovers in your life, or for those needing some inspirational food-for-thought during these trying times.

Thank you so much and be blessed.