Writing Devotion

I am a very dedicated, hard-working person, but sometimes it is hard to keep writing, even for me.  The usual culprits: balancing my writing time with everything else in my life.  That's nothing to complain about.  I am grateful for my full life- building my growing business, prioritizing my health, spending quality time with my family and friends.  But what to do when I don't have all the time in the world to be carefree and write leisurely?  Here are a few things I've done in the past few months to keep on writing when the world wants to slow me down.

Think Small

Sometimes, when I know I don't have the time to write an entire chapter, I find it freeing to shrink my goal.  In November, I chose to write several pieces for the César Egido Serrano Foundation Micro Fiction contest.  How short is micro fiction?  This one was 100 words.  It was invigorating knowing that I only needed to write one paragraph, and it was a challenge to cram everything into that short space!

Write Goals Down

At my writers' group a while ago, we wrote down our writing goals for the next week and then shared them with each other.  That combination of making a concrete goal and adding accountability works like magic!  My goal at the time was to find a critique group, and since then I've found one critique partner in person and one online, and our critiques are moving right along.

Write Daily Tasks

This is a smaller version of writing my goals down.  When there are so many things to choose from each day and a limited amount of time to do it all, I find it extremely helpful to write a quick list of what I plan to do each day.  By starting each day with some planning, I remember what is important to me to do that day.  This is much better than getting sucked down the rabbit hole of emails and alerts and miscellaneous other stuff that can easily fill my day.

Find Inspiration

This is a big one for me.  If I only think of writing as another task to do, the appeal and enjoyment quickly get sucked right out of it.  Because I am such a visual person, I get inspired by beautiful photos and videos, like this one.  I also love seeing other people creating exactly the kind of art that they are best suited to make.  Like Twenty One Pilots and Cosmic Kids Yoga.  Sometimes, though, I also accept that I will write when I'm not inspired, and just accept it and move on.

What are you inspired to do?  What do you do to stay devoted to your dreams?