How to keep writing even when life gets in the way #WriterWednesday #AmWriting #WritersLife

I was planning on skipping today’s blog post. I’m visiting my parents to figure out some family issues. Not only is it a time suck (getting here took me nearly twenty-four hours!), but an emotional drain as well. Actually, emotional drain doesn’t sound strong enough. What’s stronger than a drain? An emotional hurricane? Is that a thing? As you can imagine, getting any writing done under these circumstances is difficult to say the least. Writing a blog post doesn’t seem like much of a priority either. But, yet, here I find myself sitting on the porch at my parents’ house typing away.

I sat down to write a chapter in my work in progress this morning and ended up staring at my computer. Ugh! How can I possibly work on a romantic comedy when nothing seems much funny at the moment? I knew I needed to get some words in. The last month hasn’t been great for my word count. Between being busy with life and family issues, writing took a back seat. Considering writing is my full-time job, I can’t exactly let writing take the back seat forever.

What to do? I turned to the twenty-minute interval. You can do anything for twenty-minutes. Even try and write comedy when you aren’t feeling particularly humorous. And guess what? It worked. Sure, it’s not my best effort ever. But first drafts are called rough drafts for a reason.

If you do try the twenty-minute interval, make sure to set an alarm and turn off your internet. It only works if you force yourself to concentrate for those twenty-minutes. Otherwise, it’s too easy to get distracted. Especially when you’re not in the mood to write.

What techniques do you use to write when life tries to get in the way?