Where and when you do your blog writing will affect your ability to write well. It will either enhance, or stall, your ability to think with clarity, to push your creativity, and to put your best ideas forward on a consistent basis.
If you’re writing while the commotion of other responsibilities are interrupting you, then you are unlikely to build flow and won’t write well. There are so many distractions that can block your writing. You need to eliminate them.
Discover the best time for you to dig in, distraction-free, focus, and write with the momentum that comes from daily output. In this article, we’ll also look at how having more than one writing space gives you the flexibility to crank and craft words with care—even if your life is ridiculously chaotic.
The Wordsmith’s Workshop
A writing space is your dedicated workshop. That place where you tinker in daily.
This is where you hammer on the keys of your keyboard. It’s where you carve your ideas, then sand and polish them. This space is an extension of your brain. It’s where you walk into daily, and set about the work of sawing through all the bullshit to craft meaningful blog posts.
Often writers need a level of privacy when writing. We’ve already discussed securing our writing with password protected writing apps. There are similar benefits to having a secure writing space. This is your place where you write, with no one looking over your shoulder, or reading what you put down. You are free to create here with no one judging you.
Keep your writing space sparse, don’t allow bills or your child’s toys to stack up here. This isn’t the family office or a storage room, or at least not anymore. This is your dedicated work space. Much like a carpenters workshop is set up for woodworking, you set this space up to carve out your words. You have the tools you need at hand and nothing more.
What to look for in a dedicated writing space:
- Secure. Look for a space you won’t be interrupted in. There are no external sources to write block you. Ideally, find somewhere that you can close the door and put up a do not disturb sign up.
- Calm. You’ll benefit from a distraction-free area. Loud noises, phones ringing, babies crying, these are disturbances that can make it difficult to dip into the flow of your writing. Look for a space that is quiet and calm.
- Sparse. All you require is a simple, dedicated space with a laptop, an ergonomic chair, and a small desk. You don’t need any elaborate equipment or a huge office space. Look for a simple space, just big enough for now.
In your writing space you have freedom to explore and experiment. This is an area of your home, or a dedicated office outside the home, that you set up just for writing. Where you can close the door and shut out distractions as needed.
If you can set up a dedicated office, a shack in your backyard, a converted closet, or even your garage, that can work. Many professional writers and creatives have made great use of insteresting spaces to get their work done.
Keep in mind though: you don’t need a fancy space, just a functional space.
Ideal Time for Writing
I try to write at 5 AM every morning at my work desk in my home office. This is my dedicated time to write in my dedicated writing space.
The kids aren’t up yet; it’s quiet. There are no interruptions; I can focus on the writing task at hand for two hours before anyone wakes up. There are no phone calls or knocks on the door. It’s a time when I think clearly and can readily get into the flow of writing each and every work day.
I also like to write at 8:30 AM after I first get to my dedicated office space outside my home, after I’ve dropped the kids at school and before the workday get’s fired up. These are ideal writing times and spaces for me. I try to make best use of every morning.
To discover your best time of day to write, you’ll need to try it out for a bit. Look for times that best align with your needs for minimal distraction and make best use of your energy. We all have times of day that we think best during, make use of that.
Consider times that will work around your other commitments, whether they be other work duties, relationships, or family obligations. Take a close look within these times for blocks that are free, that you can mark in your calendar, and commit to as dedicated writing time.
To reach your goals, you may need an hour—more or less depending on how fast you write and what your daily word count goals are.
Decide what time frame you can commit to daily. This is your best time, to write your most important work. Make a daily appointment with yourself that best utilizes this ideal writing time. Make it important.
Your goal is to make this a daily habit. To best make use of your ideal writing time:
- Block off the same time for writing every day, exclude all other commitments.
- Show up for your daily appointment, on time, and ready to write.
- Put in real, concentrated effort. See how much writing you can get done in your daily time slot.
- Repeat this every day. If you want this blog writing habit to stick, then repeat this for at least a month until it’s a positive pattern.
- Make this time important. Don’t let anything get in the way of this writing time, except for emergencies.
In order to see the big picture of how well you’re writing during this dedicated time, you’ll need to track it. Making best use of your dedicated writing time, is one of the most important components of your writing system.
If you have a chaotic life, with many distractions looking to pull you away from the task of writing, you need a time that you commit to shoulder through these write blockers.
Push until you make writing a daily habit. If you do that, your writing will improve and your output will skyrocket.
Have a Backup Plan
Most mornings, I wake while it’s dark, make a strong cup of coffee on one of those little Italian stovetop mini-presses, and then I get down to the business of writing. Some days I may miss my early morning writing session.
I my have stayed up too late the night before, or my kids woke me up throughout the night, and I just don’t have the energy to wake early. I can’t possibly think clearly or write well this morning.
This is when being flexible is essential. When needed, I set aside time later in the day to write at my office desk or go to one of the numerous outposts that I use, such as the local library, Starbucks, and other cafes I frequent.
Let’s not undermine the importance of your dedicated writing time and space, that’s where the majority of your best writing will happen. But, if you are so rigid that you can’t write unless the most optimal conditions are present, then you’ll get less done. If you miss your ideal writing time—you fuck up—or an emergency get’s in the way, then be flexible as needed.
Make use of other writing spaces and write in whatever time block you can fit in that day. You might write during your lunch hour at your favorite diner. Or go to the library in the early evening and crank out some words.
Look for spaces outside your home that work well for those days you need an alternative spot to write in. Consider this your back up plan, keep it in your back pocket, and pull it out when needed.
A Productive Writer
The most productive writers have habits and best practices, as all professionals do. They have a system they leverage to get their most important work done, not just some work days, but every work day.
Having a dedicated writing space, and ideal time to write. Making a real commitment to leveraging this time daily will have you cranking out more words, producing higher quality writing, and doing so reliably.
Focus and flexibility are important for developing a writing routine that fits within your chaotic life.
Make best use of your writer’s workshop space, where your writing flows easily, but do write everywhere. Writing is now part of your life. Keep your notebook in your backpack and write in the park, bring your laptop to local cafes, fire up your brain and write wherever you can.
Write during your dedicated time, when you have ideal energy, and your thoughts connect more easily. Also, write against the grain, when you’re too tired to think straight, when every word feels like you’re lifting heavy weights.
If life get’s in the way of your writing, then write anywhere and anytime that you can make it happen. Do this daily and sure enough: you’re a professional blog writer.
Graphic Credit: Solar System designed by Author from the Noun Project.
