Becoming a better writer takes time. Lots of it.
But you don’t always have hours and hours to devote to just writing, right? I mean, add in family, work, school, hobbies, church, and your “free time” to write shrinks to a pinprick before you know it.
And that’s exactly why we’re talking about making time to be a better writer, which really means taking time to write at all so you can write better.
Let’s begin.
5 Keys To Becoming A Better Writer
1. Priority
Have you ever promised yourself that you’d finally write that thing, but stopped after a couple days?
Maybe your schedule got crazy, your ideas stopped flowing, or you just couldn’t find the time. (See #3)
It happens to us all, even the super productive ones, so what’s the antidote?
Make your project a priority.
If you have a vague desire to “just write something” every now and then, you’ll never have time for it because it’s not real to you yet. It doesn’t matter to you yet.
But if you decide to write one blog post or short story a week for the next 3 months, now you have a container for your ideas and something to dig your teeth into.
If you decide to build a collection of fresh poetry over the next 30 days, then you have a goal to work towards and you know why it matters to you.
You’ll find that it’s way easier to commit to writing when it’s specific, clearly defined, and personal to you.
That’s why I do my best work when I’m engaged in the creative projects that actually matter to me.
When I’m sharpening my ideas on creativity and writing, I’m a better writer. When I write with love and compassion, I’m a better writer. And when I commit to something tangible and specific, I’m definitely a better writer.
Interestingly enough, I always fall out of my groove when I don’t pay attention to why I’m writing in the first place, which is why I keep talking about knowing what works for you and running with it.
Do you have the capacity to write better? Absolutely.
You just need a reason to tap into it and commit.
2. Power
Have you asked yourself why you want to write that essay, short story, or book? Does your answer really matter to you, or is it something you’ve outgrown or lost interest in? Because it’s really hard to slog through something that you hate, y’all.
You can’t birth your best creative work through a topic or an idea that doesn’t resonate in your bones, and you know why? Because you’re not emotionally connected to it.
Yes, it may be well-written or even thoroughly researched, but will it change anyone? Will it excite anyone? Does it excite you?
If your answers are no, no, and no again, then there’s no power in it and it’s a waste of your time. You want the words that’re alive and pulsing with power.
What matters to you? What’re you passionate about? What do you believe in? That’s where your best creative work lives, and that’s where you need to explore.
Power lives in vibrant places, not dead places. Find the vibrant places in your life and write from there.
Take me, for example. I love writing about Jesus, relationships, joy, vision, wellbeing, and creativity. I enjoy exploring these themes and how to live them out in my own life.
So, when I come on here, I’m writing from a deeper place than just throwing words together to make them sound good.
And how do I do that? I write from my life, not from my head.
Here’s the difference: Writing from your head is mostly technical and sterile, but writing from your life is vibrant and alive.
There’s fire and motion and power when you write from your life, and that’s what you need if you’re serious about becoming a better writer.
3. Purpose
Give your hours a job to do. Eliminate dead time from your vocabulary.
If you’re hunting for time to write at all, take a look at your life. What’s on your schedule? How do you spend your hours, and how do you feel at the end of each day?
Dead time eats up your writing time. Let me break it down for you.
If you spend 30 minutes complaining or gossipping about someone, that’s dead time.
When you spend a couple hours a night every single night on social media and feel sick afterwards, that’s dead time.
If you’re so up to date on the latest TV shows that you have absolutely no time to write down and develop your own thoughts, that’s dead time.
So, take your time back. Take your power back. Decide to prioritise your creative projects and tap into the power of executing your star ideas. Give your time purpose so that you actually have the hours to pour into getting better.
Think about that book you’re longing to write. Think about those melodies and lyrics swirling in your head. Remember the ideas for videos, podcasts, and documentaries that keep popping up every few months.
Pour all that goodness into a notebook and start working through the list.
If they’re the things that matter to you, then they’re the things that you’ll make time for.
4. Produce
Do the work. Make your content. Don’t talk about it, be about it.
Put yourself on a schedule, get someone to hold you accountable, and get it done.
You’ve got priority, power, and purpose locked down, so you gotta produce. Because the same way you could consume other people’s content every chance you got is the same way you can produce your own now.
I’m asking you to do something scary, so this might start playing in your head:
“But I don’t know what to start with! I have so many ideas and I love them all! I don’t know enough! Help, I’m stuck!”
Sound familiar? These are some of the lies that your mind throws at you just so you put off producing a little longer.
Yes, producing is hard work, but it’s also good work. It’s also rewarding work. It’s also enriching, enlivening work.
So, don’t be scared by the work, be excited by it! Pick a project and start there. It really is that simple.
Commit to finishing it before you start something else. Instead of spreading yourself thin across 4, 5 different things and getting bogged down or overwhelmed, focus on one thing and take it to the end.
Write one blog post. Write one essay. Craft one short story. Shoot one video series. Produce it bit by bit until you’re done, then move on to the next. Rinse and repeat.
Making time to write better becomes second nature when you have a rhythm that works for you.
What’s your rhythm looking like?
5. Publish
OK, so the whole point of writing your best stuff is to share it with others. That means you gotta publish what you write. You don’t have to publish everything, but you do need to publish something because that’s how you grow.
When you commit to publishing what you produce, you show that being a better writer is your priority.
You can’t afford to remain exactly the same, month after month, year after year, right? But that’s the danger you face if you don’t publish often enough to stay sharp and productive.
What does that look like in real life though?
It looks like publishing daily or weekly content that stretches you. How much time you have available will vary depending on the phase or season of life you’re in, but now that you’ve pruned the dead time, you can make it work.
What if you look back on today in 6 months and marvel at how far you’ve come? What if you have a stack of blog posts, short stories, videos, or podcast episodes because you’ve shown up and done the work?
Imagine if you harnessed your creative energy, sorted through your ideas, and built them out one by one. What would that look like for you, and aren’t you curious to discover it?
Because it’ll be tragic to still be exactly the same 6 months from now. It’ll be a waste of your precious time and a disservice to your star ideas if you’re still not producing and publishing because you’re “too busy” or you “just don’t have any ideas.”
And it’ll break your heart if you’re singing the same old song 5 years later because you didn’t turn it around today and decide to commit.
Being a Better Writer Is Up To You
I can’t do it for you. I can’t force it on you. And I definitely can’t rail on you if you do your own thing and refuse to commit.
Let me ask you this:
If you get to the end of your life and realise you’re about to die with all your books, documentaries, or screenplays still inside of you, how would you feel?
Is being so busy and stressed really worth it if it’s gonna cost you so much joy and productivity?
Is it really worth it if it’s going to rob the people who needed your help but couldn’t get it because you never produced anything?
I don’t think so, but that’s just me.
What do you think?
Your Next Steps
Pick an idea you can execute in full within the next 30 days and do it. Notice that I said “in full”, and that’s because I want you to finish, not fizzle out halfway through because you’re exhausted by the scope.
Make it small enough to wrap up in a month and challenging enough to really engage you. We’re here for the best, not the boring. Cut the fluff and go for gold.
So, now that you know how to make time to be a better writer, what’re you gonna do about it?
Talk To Me