A 30-Minute Writing Session Plan That Actually Moves Your Project Forward
Greetings and salutations, Scribblers. One of the questions I get asked most often is “how do I move forward on my writing?”
And this is a universal writing conundrum. At various points in a project, we all feel a bit stuck and unsure what to do next. Sometimes this takes the form of us avoiding writing and sometimes we get stuck revising chapter one for the hundredth time instead of actually writing the ending of our story. So, what do we do?
I’m going to give you a specific, repeatable option for structuring a thirty minute writing session. Feel free to modify it as needed based on your actual time allotment and writing needs.
The first thing you’re going to do is get yourself settled and remove distractions. Put your phone in the other room, hang up your do-not-disturb sign, and get your butt in the chair. You need to commit to a full 30 minutes of focused writing time.
Once you’ve done this, take five minutes to identify your goal for the day. Set a timer. You don’t have to actually write yet, just decide on the specific goal you want to accomplish. Your goal should be tiny, specific, and achievable. Don’t just say you’re going to work on your novel. That’s too big and too vague. Instead tell yourself the specific piece you’ll be working on. Maybe it will be:
Write the scene where Pablo discovers the letter.
Draft 300 words of the epic fight scene between Jim and Nam-no.
Rewrite the first paragraph so it hints at the fact Debbie has gone missing
Each of these is a very specific goal that focuses your attention and sets you up to make measurable progress. When the timer goes off, move into phase two: 20 minutes of writing.
Reset your timer and get those fingers on the keyboard! Write without editing. That’s right, avoid the backspace key like it has the plague. Let your brain get into a flow state. This might take some getting used to, so it might be useful to start with a shorter time and time build up to a full twenty minutes. But the more you can just type without getting caught up in it being perfect, the more progress you’ll make. I’m always telling other writers, and myself, that you can’t revise what doesn’t exist. You have to get the words on the page first.
When the timer goes off, congratulate yourself for a job well done and then take a moment to review what you accomplished. Set the timer one more time for five minutes. You might make a few quick edits on what you just wrote, or you might make notes about what comes next–which will set you up for the next thirty minute writing sprint whether it’s happening immediately or tomorrow.
Writing a novel takes time and it’s easy to feel like 30 minutes a day isn’t enough time to accomplish that. But it is. The goal is always about progress, not perfection. But you want that progress to be intentional and have a direction. By setting a tiny goal, devoting 20 minutes of time to writing and taking another 5 to reflect and set up for the next day, you’ll see how those small chunks of time will keep adding up until your manuscript is finished! And when you feel like you’re making progress, the choice to write a novel starts to feel like a wise decision again.
We have a free handout with tiny goal suggestions on it. Just click on the link in the description and you can download your own copy!
Until next time, happy writing, Scribblers.
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