Okay. Not entirely in twenty-minutes a day. But mostly. Years ago, when we were rearing four children, serving like crazy in our church, and starting a new medial practice, I decided to be a writer. One day I heard this sage piece of advice: If you write 250 words per day, that is one page of a book. If you do that every week day for a year, you have over 200 pages, even giving yourself time off for a vacation or the flu. That is a book.
So, I started writing. 250 words per day. I usually couldn’t stop at 250, of course. So I had a rough draft of my first novel done by the end of the summer. (It is not the novel pictured here.)
I kept up that practice as the children grew, and I soon had several articles published in national magazines. I also had another novel written and revised about four times. (It is not the novel pictured here, either.)
Eventually, the children grew up, got married, and had children of their own. Just as I was about to become a full-time-writer-for-real we moved to a new town and started a new medical practice from scratch. This time, I went to work in the office as receptionist, office manager, billing coder, insurance filer, collections department, and basic go-to girl. I loved this dream come true of working full-time with my husband. But, it didn’t leave much time or energy for writing.
So, I sat down every morning before work and wrote for twenty-minutes. I didn’t edit or check Facebook, or lolligag on email. I wrote. One scene at a time, the book unfolded. On Saturday afternoons, I’d sometimes lock myself away for a few hours of block time for edits and revisions. Three times a year, when my husband had to attend continuing medical education seminars, I shut myself in our hotel room and wrote till my eyes burned.
But, mostly, I wrote this novel in twenty-minutes a day. It IS the one pictured here, and you can have your very own copy in approximately 83 days, 6 hours, and 47 seconds.
So, what dream are you going to accomplish this year in twenty-minutes a day?
Click to Tweet: What can you do with 20 minutes a day? @KathyNick_ says you can write a novel https://wp.me/pDTue-Hd
I’ve had the dream of becoming a writer since I was young. Your story gives me so much hope and encourages me to just set time aside and do it! Thank you. And I very much look forward to reading your book!
Hurrrrraaaaay! Go for it, Jessica. Let me know how I can help!
There are some days when I’m really bugged because I can only write 500 words, or for twenty or thirty minutes, but then I look back and see that it really adds up, I just move on. I think it would be interesting to keep track of all the writing you did and then look back and see how many hours it took
Actually, no. That could be kind of depressing 🙂 Great post Kathy!
Thanks, Katie. You might be right about the depressing part :)!
I’ve been “away” from my writing for so many years, not even sure how to start picking it up again. I have many little scraps of paper with ideas and lines for poems that I’ve collected in that time, but nothing full-blown. Maybe this is the kick in the seat I need to get started again. 🙂 I can’t wait to read your book. In my mind I keep thinking it’s the “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” but with maturity!!
Ha! Ha! Ha! What a great description. And please consider this a kick. In fact, why don’t you restart your blog? You don’t have to make a big deal about it. Just reappear 🙂
Kathy,
This is actually just the post I needed! To my husband’s (sometimes) annoyance, I am an “all or nothing” person. With writing, I have this “ideal” writing time: 1-2 hours of quiet, uninterrupted time. And for a long time, I thought I needed that kind of environment to write well. And if I didn’t have my perfect scenario, then I wouldn’t write at all that day.
But the truth is, writers should be practicing their craft every day, even if it’s only for 20 minutes a day, like you! I’m learning that I don’t need my “ideal.” I just need to be committed to writing consistently. Like you’ve shown us, writing a novel really can happen just a little bit at a time.
Thanks again for this post!
It’s true, Megan. We have to seize the moment! Thanks for stopping by. Come back again and tell us about your progress.
In this busy world, that’s such a great way of looking at writing. My taekwondo instructor says anyone can find 20 minutes each day to practice, no matter how busy we think we are, and that’s true of writing too. Thank you for reminding me of that!
Taekwondo! I’m impressed. And, I’m sure that discipline helps you as a writer, Kella. Thanks for dropping in and for commenting.
I try to set aside at least one hour every day to work on my book and during that time I don’t answer the phone, I don’t check my e-mails, nothing except writing. It works, because I’m progressing nicely.
Ooooooo. Not checking email is a big one. Thanks for that reminder, Vanessa. And keep us posted on your book!
In 20 minutes a day… hmm… I could rewrite my novel and finish the second book in the trilogy! 🙂 Great post!
Go for it, Devin! And let us know how things are progressing.
This is so true.
I did this with my first draft for NaNoWriMo last year but then let it slide once it came to the editing and the second draft.
I think people don’t realise how easy it is to get up 30 minutes early and actually achieve something.
Great post.
Thank, Jo. And thanks for coming by. I hope you get back into routine for the editing stage. Your NaNoWriMo achievement is amazing. I’ve never tried that.