Writing a Book: Tips for Getting It Done with a Full-Time Job.
Embarking on the journey of writing a book.
For many aspiring authors juggling a demanding full-time job and family responsibilities, writing a book is a dream. It may seem like a distant and unattainable goal. The reality is that with the right mindset and strategies, you can write and publish your book alongside your busy schedule. Let’s get down to it.
Can you write a book while working full-time?
The question on the minds of many aspiring authors is, “Can I write a book when I have a full-time job? Is it possible?"
As a published author myself, I can tell you that not only is it possible, but successful authors do it every day.
That's not to say you won't have to make sacrifices to finish your book. You will. You’ll have to walk a fine line between your 9 to 5 job, your family, and your passion for writing.
The good news is that it’s not about finding time. We each have a whole 24 hours in our day. It’s about organizing your time to manage your writing efforts successfully.
Here are a few tips.
Set writing goals.
Know your schedule and commitments. Your week is full of family and work responsibilities and daily tasks you need to complete. Sit down on Sunday evening and review your upcoming week's schedule. Identify fixed commitments like work hours, having dinner with your family, and other obligations. Then, determine where you can include writing within your pockets of available time.
Set achievable daily and weekly goals. Set a realistic timeframe for the completion of your book. Break it down into daily and weekly goals. Do you want to complete your book in three, six, or eight months?
Remember, what is realistic for one person might be unrealistic for you.
Determine how many words you can write each day. Can you commit to 500 words or even 1,000 words? If you can write 1,000 words daily, you will complete a 50,000-word nonfiction manuscript in 50 days.
Maybe you can’t write every day. If so, decide how many words you can write per week.
Determine what works for you. Don't feel guilty if you have to adjust your goals based on your writing pace or unforeseen issues that arise.
Prioritize your writing time. If writing is your priority, make the time necessary to complete your book – even if it means getting up earlier than you want to or sacrificing leisure time. If your goal is to write and publish a book, prove it.
Discuss your writing commitment with your family so they’re on board and know that at a specific time of day, you will be working on your book.
Find a writing space that suits you.
Designate a specific area where you can focus on your writing. Whether you use a spare bedroom as your writing sanctuary, have a “she shed” in the garden, or use a comfy hand-me-down chair in the living room, designate one space specifically for writing.
While a dedicated space is optional to complete your book, it helps if you have one. Take me for example. I write on my dining room table, kitchen counter, TV room couch, and spare bedroom which is set up as an actual office.
When I’m writing in the dining room or kitchen, I can get easily distracted.
I want a snack.
I look at the mail.
I pay bills.
I fold the laundry.
When I'm in my office with the door closed, I stay there much longer and have no distractions to pull me away from my writing.
Minimize distractions to maximize productivity. Eliminate distractions by turning off phone notifications and the television. Disconnect from the internet entirely if you don't need it to write, so you won't check email, chat on Facebook, or watch a YouTube video.
If you have little ones running around the house or a teenager playing music, try wearing noise-canceling headphones.
Set boundaries. You should have already communicated to your family about your intention to write. Remind them when your writing time approaches. If you have an office with a door, add a note outside that says, “Writing now,” “Please talk to Dad,” or hang a Do Not Disturb sign.
Use breaks and downtime throughout the day.
Take advantage of short breaks during work hours. You likely have 10- or 15-minute breaks here and there during your work day. How much time do you get for lunch?
Instead of scrolling social media or chatting with a colleague about last night’s hot TV show, open a writing app or notepad and jot down a short scene for your novel, a backstory for a character you’ve invented, or a plot twist you just thought of.
Try this out. Set a timer and sit down for 10 minutes, concentrating on accomplishing something related to your book development. When your alarm sounds at the end of 10 minutes, review everything you have just completed. You will be amazed.
Use commuting or waiting time wisely. Do you take a commuter train to work? How long is your commute? How do you use that time?
Do you hang around in the waiting rooms of doctors, dentists, auto mechanics, or other service providers? How long do you wait? How do you use that time?
If you’re like most of us, I bet you’re on social media or playing a game while waiting.
How much progress could you make toward completing your book if you used even 20 minutes to develop characters, outline a scene, or come up with plot twists while commuting to the office or waiting for the doctor?
Do you pick up your children from school or walk the dog? Use that wait time at school or during your walk to write another chapter verbally. You can use a speech-to-text tool like Google Docs Voice Typing or Word for Microsoft 365 to dictate your story. These are only two examples. There are many others.
While these times may seem like small moments in the day, they add up quickly. Five minutes here and five minutes there can produce significant progress.
Try this each time you work on your book: Whether you're at your desk, waiting for the kids, commuting, or wherever else you can fit your book into your day, add the amount of time you spend to your phone's calendar.
It could be fifteen minutes at 6:30 am. Thirty minutes at noon. Fifteen minutes at 3:00 pm. One hour at 9:00 pm. That's a total of 2 hours that you spend on your book in one day. That’s fantastic.
If you do that every day for a week, you will spend 14 hours working on your book. That’s even better!
What's the best way to write a book while working full-time and caring for your family?
Balancing the demands and stresses of a full-time job and family responsibilities with the desire to write and publish a book adds a layer of complexity to your life that most people don’t understand.
Nor would they want to take it on, frankly.
But our desire to write is so powerful that we must do it to feel fulfilled.
Here are some tips to synchronize these aspects of your life.
Communicate with your family.
Tell your family about your writing aspirations. Your writing is your passion, and you want to commit to it as much as you commit to your work and family obligations. Have an open conversation about your passion and desire to write and publish a book.
Share your vision for how you believe this will positively impact you and the other members of the family.
Create dedicated writing times and set well-defined boundaries. Designate certain hours as your writing time. That could be from 5:00-7:00 am before the rest of your family gets up. Or it could be from 8:30-10:00 pm after your children have gone to bed.
Involve your family.
Share your ideas and progress. Involving your family in your writing journey demonstrates your commitment to working for and completing something you are passionate about. It also enables them to share in your success.
Update them about your characters, themes, and plot progress. Share individual chapters of the work-in-progress, your plot outline, or other book sections. Their feedback, support, and praise can be stimulating and motivating.
Celebrate milestones as a family. Celebrate together as you achieve writing milestones like finishing a chapter, reaching a specific word count goal, or something else. You could have a special family dinner, share a fun game night, or go somewhere you all enjoy.
This activity acknowledges your accomplishment but also recognizes their participation in your progress.
Make writing fun and inclusive. Your children may also be interested in writing. Encourage them to use their imagination to create their own stories. Praise their efforts and urge them to continue. Consider establishing a family writing hour so everyone can enjoy the time together.
Prioritize and delegate tasks.
Identify non-essential tasks that you can delegate. At work, assess your to-do list. Could you hire an assistant to complete more administrative, data entry, or routine tasks that a more junior staff member can handle?
Are there household tasks that family members can share at home or chores you can outsource? For example, could you hire a cleaning service to clean your house or hire a landscaping company to cut your grass and perform yard work?
Don’t feel bad about saying no to requests that may limit your writing progress. Saying no to a request because it keeps you from your writing progress doesn’t mean you’re rude or bad-mannered. Evaluate whether the request aligns with your plans and goals, and if not, politely decline.
Batch tasks.
Streamline your workflow with grouped tasks. Whenever you have a group of similar tasks, do them together over a set time. For example, set aside a half hour from 9:30-10:00 am to handle your emails. Then, schedule an hour to make all your telephone calls at once rather than spreading them out throughout the day.
At home, combine chores like laundry, house cleaning, and grocery shopping into a 2–3-hour period one day per week.
Dedicate specific days and times for particular commitments. Reserving specific days and times for certain responsibilities enables you to be present in the moment, focused entirely on your writing, work, or family at any given time.
Add to your calendar certain days and hours you will use exclusively to write.
Reserve specific days and hours focused on work.
Set aside quality time for family dinners, outings, or to have fun.
Word count? Page length? How long should your book be?
So, we have our writing space.
We’re committed to writing.
Our family is on board.
Now, we need to determine how long our book will be.
People often ask me, “Is 50 pages too short for a book?" "Is 200 pages a long book?" "How many pages is a decent-sized book?"
First, page length is not usually the determining factor of book-length. Word count is the way books are measured.
While specific genres do have standard lengths, they are relative. You can use the word count associated with your book’s genre as a guide but recognize that it is subjective, based on your writing style and needs.
For example, the average length of a novel can run anywhere from 50,000 to 110,000 words. Within that range, the average size for an adult novel is about 90,000 words. On the other hand, the average length for a YA or Young Adult novel is shorter.
Here are additional examples.
To determine what your book length should be, follow these tips.
Understand your genre’s standards.
As you can see in the Word Count for Writers list above, genres have different established practices for book length. Research these practices and standards to align your book with the reader's expectations and industry norms.
It is important to note that sub-genres can have different standards, like the Young Adult example I gave above and the other book lengths for mysteries, romance, and science fiction that are all novel sub-genres.
Focus on quality over quantity.
Above all, prioritize the integrity of your story rather than trying to hit a specific word count. Some stories may naturally be shorter or longer based on their complexity and depth.
Avoid adding unnecessary filler to meet a predetermined length. Instead, deliver a compelling plot that engages readers.
The final word.
Being a published author while holding down a full-time job and caring for a family is challenging, but it isn’t impossible.
By setting realistic goals, effectively managing your time, inviting your family into your writing journey with you, and using non-traditional writing times like on your commute or sitting in a waiting room, you can find the balance you need to accomplish your goal and fulfill your passion.
Embrace the challenges, celebrate the victories, and remember that the fulfillment of writing a book while balancing a full life is an outstanding achievement worth pursuing.
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