All the ways I trick myself into writing

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By Liz, sitting on the deck looking at the ocean

I love writing. But I don’t always love sitting down to do it.

I know it’s a familiar refrain from a lot of writers. There are a lot of reasons why we don’t always make the time to do the things we love. For me, it used to be a perceived lack of time. Which was somewhat excusable when I was working ridiculous hours and doing five other things on the side.

Now that I’m only doing three major things that compete for my attention at once, the problem should be solved, right?

Wrong. So I had to start relying on something other than my own desire – one that could easily be overcome by the lure of a particularly good Netflix show – to get me working.

So I’ve become a systems queen. I don’t know how it happened, because I’ve always struggled with process and project management. But between working full time and writing multiple books a year FOR YEARS, I finally needed to figure out a better way to get my writing done.

Which meant I needed a system to get myself writing every day, or most days at least, make enough progress to feel good about myself, and make writing a priority in my life – even if it wasn’t the thing I could spend the most amount of time on.

Here’s how I do it: 

Affirmations. Yes, we’re going woo! Affirmations have changed my life. They are short statements that help you reframe whatever’s going on in your life in a more positive way. I’m not talking about saying things you’ll never believe or toxic positivity when you’re feeling lousy, either. I’m talking about statements that make you feel better, like I am safe, or All is well. 

Consistency goals. I heard this recently and adopted it. This is different than setting a big goal, like writing a book or running a marathon. So instead of saying, want to finish my book by December 31, you set a consistency goal that’s something like, I will write 1000 words daily until I finish my book or I will write two scenes daily. 

Scheduling time for writing in my actual calendar. When I started treating writing like a meeting I couldn’t miss, it got done. Simple – and I wish I’d done it sooner. 

Journaling and meditation. My nonnegotiable morning activities that get me in the headspace to write. I meditate to a guided meditation for 10-20 mins, then journal three pages longhand. It clears the clutter out of my brain and starts me off in the right mindset.

Having an accountability partner or group. Having people on the writing journey with you is so important. Having people who can kick your butt into action when they need to is even better. Find your people.

Being kind to myself. This is a totally new activity for me. You might think this isn’t really a system, but if this is a habit you have on repeat, it needs to get onto your systems list. Most of us are way too mean to each other. We’ve learned this from people in our lives, probably. But it doesn’t help. All the wasted hours of beating myself up did not make me more productive. In fact, they probably made me less productive. 

These are the systems that work for me – they feel best for my unique creative brain. Yours might be totally different. But I’ve found that having some way to manage yourself with kindness and consistency makes all the difference in actual progress. 

Readers, what systems do you have in place to help you manage life? Tell me in the comments!

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Published by Cate Conte / Liz Mugavero

Cate Conte writes the Cat Cafe Mysteries and the Full Moon Mysteries. As Liz Mugavero, she writes the Pawsitively Organic Mysteries, the first of which was an Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel. She lives in the Boston area with her rescue pals.

19 Thoughts

  1. I’m glad you’ve found what works for you, Liz! I’ve had a sprint date with a group of other writers online for many years, a practice started by Ramona DeFelice Long. I start writing (or revising) at seven every morning but Sunday. I also set a daily word count goal if I’m writing a first draft. Those two bits alone have gotten me to three or four books a year for a decade.

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      1. I like the way you think about your writing journey. It can also be used in everyday life for anyone who has to lose weight. Cause I use it all the time.

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  2. In my regular life, I spend a lot of time with friends, but in my writing life, I’m a loner until I have a draft good enough to show to my first, informal readers. I’m not sure what an accountability partner is, but if I had someone nagging me to get on with it, I’d probably commit my own murder! However, I understand that different systems work for different people.

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  4. I have my “sacred writing hour” as Ramona used to call it. I have two goals: what I must do and what I’d like to do.

    And I’ve learned to be kind to myself on days when the day gig leaves me too mentally exhausted to even think.

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  6. Loved this post, Liz! You’re so real about struggling to make time for writing, and I’m sure many of us can relate.

    I’m totally with you on being kind to ourselves – it’s a game-changer.

    Honestly, I’m still figuring it out this, but you’ve motivated me to find what works for me. Thanks for the encouragement 🙏

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  7. We might be twins, Cate. I use many of the same tricks and my gullible self falls for them every time.

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  8. Thank you, Liz. The best advice I ever got for every type of work I’ve ever done is your Consistency goal. At an opportune time in my late thirties, my friend Paul Blumenfeld said to me, “You make your chunks too big.” Meaning, the goal shouldn’t be to write a book, it should be “Write 1000 words,” or “Revise 20 pages,” or “Finish first draft.” That and my to-do list, formerly divided into “Kensington,” “Business of Writing,” and “Personal,” and now only the latter two, have seen me through decades now. I’m always pretty kind to myself, so that one’s not hard for me!

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  9. I usually have no problem whatsoever with writing. I even work on more than one book project at a time. Some days I can get five chapters done in a single sitting. However, the only time I really slow down is when the weather is hot to the point of being unbearable. Rather than writing five chapters, it’s a miracle if I can write five paragraphs, but only during a heat wave. Now if only there was a way to control the weather, I’d be all set, all year round! 🙂

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