Top Tips For Busy People Who “Haven’t Got Time to Write a Book”

You’ve established you’ve “got a book in you” and you’re going to write it. Whether its for fun, for the scaling of your business or to achieve a long-lasting life goal.

But I hear you: how are you ever going to find the time to write a book when you work full time/ run your own business/ are a parent/ are supposed to be trying to fit self-care into your already insane schedule?!

As someone who is currently writing a book whilst running a publishing business and trying to vaguely successfully raise three kids under five, here are my four top tips to get your book written (with inspiration from fabulous writing coach, Steph Caswell).

Have you got time to write a book?

The best tip that I keep seeing offered for busy professionals and that has been well documented by Steph Caswell via her Instagram stories as she describes her own writing journey, is:

WRITE IN 30-MINUTE SPRINTS

Steph is currently writing her seventh (yes seventh!) book and she swears by writing for 30 minutes every day. And what’s more, she’s written all her books this way. I’ve found this a really great technique for ensuring I keep at it and don’t lose momentum throughout the week. If you’re mind is overactive like mine, the biggest problem with starting to write a book, is that I’ve started to write about TEN books. The enthusiasm starts off strong, but the magpie effect soon takes over and I’ll always find myself distracted by the next bright and shiny idea that flies into my brain.

If this sounds like you, the 30-minute sprint technique really is a great one.

And when to fit in the 30 minutes a day really comes down to prioritisation. I guarantee you spend more than 30 minutes a day scrolling through your phone, I'm certainly guilty. So pick a time when you know you are most likely to do this - maybe it’s when you first wake up, or when the kids are napping, or when they’re watching TV – and replace that scroll time with write time. Actually stick it in your diary and set an alarm to do it!

Or instead of settling down for the evening in front of I’m A Celeb (also guilty), watch 30 minutes less and get 30 minutes of writing done. Remind yourself of the reasons you want to write a book and that should be enough to spur you on. If you start dreading the writing or start to see those 30 minutes as a chore, this technique might not be for you – or maybe book writing isn’t for you!

LITTLE AND OFTEN

The less organised part of me also enjoys this more sporadic writing routine. And it basically looks like me keeping my laptop nearby at all times, and whenever I have some spare time, I write. This could be for 10 minutes while I wait for the pasta to boil, or it could be an hour between meetings or other to-do tasks.

Again, if you have jumped on the book-writing train, there was probably a reason you got on it in the first place so you should know the reasons why writing this book is important to you. Whether its important for your mental health, your business, your career, your enjoyment, it’s so important to remember why you are writing the book so it doesn’t become a drag and drop down on your priority list.

If you find yourself forgetting why you started writing a book, check out this blog post: “What do you want to achieve from writing and publishing your book?”

CHANGE YOUR PERCEPTION OF BOOK WRITING

Instead of viewing it as a chore or something that will just probably get done at some point “when I get round to it”, put some importance on it and schedule time in your diary to write – turn 'writing time' into a physical thing that exists in your diary. This is especially necessary if you’re writing to scale your business – if your book is going to be part of your marketing strategy then this task is just as important as the ‘Content Creation’ hour you’ve got blocked out, or the ‘Facebook Power Hour’ that’s scheduled. So don’t make excuses, block out one to two hour slots, two or three times a week, to dedicate to book writing.  

THE COLIN FIRTH

Book yourself a weekend off from family and work duties, check into a cute Air B’n’B and write – really put a shift in to make the most of the disturbance-free writing time. And remember to eat and drink.

I don’t know many writers that actually write like this because it's a bit overglamourised and in general, life just doesn’t allow for it. However what it does do is ensure the undisturbed time is there for you - now its just down to you to use your time wisely and get the words onto paper. This writing technique is probably better suited to the super-focused and anti-procrastination mentalities out there!

So there it is, it's an option. And a mighty fine one at that! (Portuguese cleaner not mandatory).

So, there you have it, my top four book-writing techniques for busy people. There’s always time – you just have to prioritise it! If you think you'd benefit from working with a writing coach to hold you accountable and motivate you through the process, check out our 'Idea to Author' package.