How to Write a Book When You are Busy?

When I was writing my first book, “US: A Story of Struggles, Heartbreak and Victories,” I was working a full time job that demanded a lot from me. I would come home exhausted and rarely had time for myself, after I eat my body naturally wanted to sleep. Sometimes head first in my empty plate. I would wake up the next day with a neck ache and grease in my thick, kinky hair. In this blog, I will reveal my step by step program of how I manage my time to write an Amazon best selling book. 

1. Down Time. When I was writing all three of my books, I wrote during my “down time”. For example, I wrote during my doctor appointments, while waiting to see the doctor, which gave me twenty to thirty minutes to write.  I also wrote during my lunch break because I realized that success takes sacrifice, that means I temporarily gave up something I love instead of relaxing, eating or watching a television show etc, I write. I can guarantee you that you have some down time during your day, more down time examples are: waiting at the bus stop, getting a pedicure or a manicure etc. I bet you are asking, how can I write when I am getting a manicure? If you continue to read the blog, you will find the answer. 

2. Small Step: I do not know what your day to day is like to help you customize a schedule. However, I want you to focus on creating momentum in writing. This means to write even for five minutes, it seems like a small and insignificant, but if you do this every day it will compound; by the end of the week you would have written for thirty five minutes. The main point of this exercise is to create momentum and keep it.

3. Voicenote. I love technology because it makes life easier for us. When I was writing my first book, “Us: A Story of Struggles, Heartbreak and Victories, my coach introduced me to this app called, Otter.ai. It is a voice recording app that converts your spoken word into written words. You can use it to help you write your book. For example, when you are washing the dish you can write a portion of your book by dictating it, let the machine write it for you then you transfer it to your manuscript later. When you are getting a manicure, you can dictate your book.  Otter.ai is one of many dictation apps, but you can use any dictation device that you feel comfortable with. Apps make it easier to become a self published author. The question is how bad do you want it? 

4. First Thing First. This world is full of distractions from sport games, video games, and  Netflix etc. I am not going to tell you to give up your vices because we all need to have some fun in our lives. However, set your priorities. Your first priority is to write and publish your book. Therefore, write first, then watch Netflix, write first, then play video games, write first, then watch sports.  I want you to remember that creation is better than consumption. When you create, you are impacting lifes. When you create, you have the potential to generate income. 

5. Habit Stacking: This is when you pair a new habit with an established habit. For example, after I finish eating breakfast, I will write for 20 minutes. The reason this works is because it cues your next action, you know that after you eat breakfast you have to write. If you are consistent with this method, soon it's going to be automatic.  This idea is from James Clear, “Atomic Habit,” book. When I  was writing my first book, “Us: A Story of Struggles, Heartbreak and Victories,” I used habit stacking to help me complete the book. I made a commitment that after I eat dinner, I would write for an hour and it worked. 

6. Monetary Commitment. Sometimes you might just need extra motivation to write and publish your book. What I am about to say might sound cray cray, but it works for me and other entrepreneurs. I suggest that you make a huge monetary commitment to writing and publishing your book. This commitment can be: 1) paying a coach full price to help you publish your book. 2)Buy a domain name  and build a website for your book. 3) Purchase your ISBN number. When you make a monetary commitment you will be compelled to finish writing your book and publish it because you do not want to waste your money. 

7. Community. If you want to be an author, then surround yourself with authors. It's simple and easy. Have you ever heard the saying that you are like the five people that you surround yourself by? When you surround yourself with published authors they are going to inspire you to become the next published author. The purpose of a community is to help you and sharpen you, as the adage says, “iron sharpen iron”. If you do not know where to find such a community, you can try to search for it on Eventbrite or Google search or ask your friends and family if they know of a published author community. 

Conclusion: It is not a question of whether you have time to write a book or not. The right question to ask is: how bad do I want to publish my book? I believe that when you really want something you become unstoppable. 

Actionable steps

1. This week, write for five minutes everyday. 

2. Find a community of published writers to join.

3. Create a writing schedule on your phone, then print it and place it somewhere in your house where you will see it every day.  

4. Decide on what established habit you have that you can pair with writing as exemplified in point 4 above. 

5. Put your mouth where your money is and make a monetary payment towards publishing your book as exemplified in point 6 above.

Follow these steps to write a book when you are busy.