By Annette Young
There’s no escaping from the fact that writing well means writing regularly. The craft of writing needs input but funnily enough, sometimes writing for a very short period of time can make you more productive. Blank page syndrome can often scupper your best intentions to have a productive day at home and it’s just typical when you have carefully arranged time to write, that those are the moments when the well of creativity dries up, packs up and leaves.
Of course it only returns when it is too late to try again.
If this sounds familiar, or, if it’s just impossible to invest too much time in your writing currently, do yourself a favour and keep inspiration afloat by setting up ultra fast, highly pressured mini-sessions. It doesn’t matter where you are either, find ten minutes before work, in your tea break or at lunch time, simply watch the clock and then write furiously for ten minutes until you run out of time.
Initially, your writing might not be as free flowing as you would like. It might be a little disjointed or less than perfect, but that doesn’t matter. You will be amazed at how much you can get done in just ten minutes and you are training yourself to respond creatively on demand. It works because you know you only have a limited period of time to perform and that’s it.
Of course you can adjust the time to suit your schedule but everyone can manage ten minutes, whether on the train, on the bus, in a cafe or before collapsing into bed at night.
Incidentally, these little writing sessions can really boost your connection with the written word too.
