Sacred Writing Time:
1. Time devoted specifically for the use of writing.
2. Highly valued or important time for writing.
For those of you who have not considered this concept, I recommend beginning with a small amount of time, like an hour.
The location isn't as important as the time itself. Your home or your library or the local Starbucks will do.
Prepare your family and friends.
Put up a sign if you're working at home. Signs set boundaries. Take the sign down when the agreed upon time is over.
I've been using this technique for years!
Caveat: When it comes to Sacred Writing Time you must demand respect if you want to get respect.
If you don’t demand respect for your writing time now, it's fiction to think you'll get it after you sell.
However, that said, the sad truth is that usually it's not family and friends who disrespect the Sacred Writing Time. It's you the writer.
I spent some time mulling over this phenomenon.
Why don't we the writer honor and respect our time and our art?
1. We feel guilty. In the words of my friend Stephanie, "Guilt is a useless emotion."
If you utilize the simple inverted pyramid approach to what's important in your life then what do you have to feel guilty about?
Take the pyramid and fill in from top to bottom the most important things in your life-with the most important at the top, of course. Now, look at what you've filled in for priorities on the pyramid. Even if writing is the last spot on that pyramid, you should at least give it that much value. That much of your day.
Honor those priorities in that order, and lose the guilt.
2. We fail to honor writing as a gift from God. It took me a very long time to grasp the concept that my writing was a ministry. (I respect your right to disagree with this concept. You're wrong, but I respect your right to disagree.)
3. We fear success as much as we fear failure. Some of us are so paralyzed by the fear of success and/or failure we are constantly sabotaging our writing and our Sacred Writing Time. Both the fear of failure and the fear of success are deeply rooted in feelings of unworthiness. Fear that someone will discover you are really a fraud and not a writer. Fear you just don't measure up. Applicable to both the published and unpublished writer. I could give you a list of ways you sabotage your writing, but I'm very sure you already have the list memorized.
4. We make excuses.
If we want the dream then we must constantly ask ourselves:
• What have I done today to make my dream come true?
• What am I willing to sacrifice to make my dream come true?
Of course, there is no set answer. We are all on different paths, at different seasons of our life. But please stop making excuses, instead make plans.
5. We Fail To Protect the Work. We get so distracted by life and social media that our time, energy and talent is frittered away. When we sit down to write during Sacred Writing Time our mind is focused on anything but writing. (Writing is not about multi-tasking.)
Years ago there was a Jenny Crusie buzz-word in RWA circles, Protect the Work, based on an RWR article. It's still true today. Protect the Work.
In the course, of any given twenty-four hour day there is a Sacred Writing Time that is yours and yours alone. I encourage you to FIND IT, RESPECT IT, HONOR IT!
Respect and honor yourself as well.