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Writing In 15 Minute Intervals

Relatives visit and stay for a week. Three kids need chauffeuring to six different after-school activities. You are in bed with the flu. You agree to work overtime. It is the week before Christmas and you have not finished your shopping.

Using a timer while you write.It is impossible to do everything in 24 hours. Usually something has to give and it is the writing time that usually gets the first heave ho. You are hardly going to tell your mother-in-law  “ta-ta” and that you are off to hole up for two hours to write. So what do you do when your writing routine has to be sacrificed?

If it is only for a day–fine as long as it does not turn into a whole string of days and before you know it, you have not written a word in three months. Remember the 80/20 rule? A day away can oftentimes result in a fresh approach.

Fifteen Minute Blocks

If your day is absolutely upside down–and we all have them–and you are determined to write, then think of breaking your hour down into four segments. Fifteen minutes does not sound like a lot but you are going to be surprised what you can get done in that time frame.

  • Print up the last chapter you wrote and take it with you while you are waiting for your child to come out of practice/school. In those 15 minutes, read it aloud to see if there are any omitted words. Check spelling and grammar and refine your sentences.
  • Do research. You can learn a lot in 15 minutes of surfing the net (no email!).
  • Stay up 15 minutes past your bedtime and write. Or get up 15 minutes early.
  • Skip lunch with colleagues and brown bag it and use 15 minutes to write.
  • Carry a pen and paper with you. You can jot down a lot of things in a short period of time. Explore character motivation. Describe a beautiful sunset you just witnessed. Write down the dialogue that has been playing around in your head.

The key to the 15 minutes of time is planning and preparation. You do not want to spend 10 of those minutes booting up your computer–at the very least it is a waste of electricity. Look ahead to the day and see where 15 minutes can be carved out and what you need to prepare for it. Plan ahead as to what you are going to write in that fifteen minutes. You probably just have time to write one scene or some dialogue. You can be running off a hard copy of your last chapter while you are in the shower. You can turn on your laptop a few minutes before you head out the door to pick up your kid from practice.

Do not be discouraged. After a while, those 15 intervals will begin to add up and before you know it you will have scenes, then chapters and finally a completed novel.

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