Tip 3: Use That Pause Button

Thirty minutes on the clock – but how do you make it there? It’s time for tip 3:

“Take breaks when your concentration fails you.”

Not all of our days look the same, but that won’t stop us from writing!

Half an Hour’s Worth of Writing

As has been established, the Daily 30 is simple: Give yourself half an hour every day to dedicate to writing. The goal is to actually spent 30 full minutes on the craft – every second you’re penning down words, thinking up plots, or editing your work.

This doesn’t mean, however, that those 30 minutes need to be uninterrupted. You can pause the clock at any time, as long as every single minute of those 30 is focused on writing.

During my own practice, sometimes I start the clock and don’t stop until 40 minutes have passed. The words keep coming and it’s all great, and then I’m done for the day.

Other times, it might take me an entire day to fill up the 30 minutes – five minutes at lunch time, ten right after inspiration strikes in my phone app, a final 15 minutes spread out over an evening where I find it impossible to concentrate. The point is, every minute I counted, I was either writing or actively trying to.

Pause Instead of Quitting

The one drawback of a timed daily habit is that you might find yourself staring at a blank page without writing anything. To avoid wasting your 30 minutes, make sure to give yourself a break!

If you force yourself to push through a set time in one go every day, you might find yourself running into the same issues we discussed with word count goals: you demand the same level of focus of yourself each day.

This might lead to frustration – and frustration is your worst enemy when building habits, because that might just make you quit.

Instead, give yourself some grace and pause when you need to. The clock won’t run away. In fact, you might even be more productive in the end when you switch to a completely different task in between small writing sprints.

Morning Typist or Night Scribbler

Doing the Daily 30 requires a bit of planning. You need to learn to spot the opportunities for writing throughout your day. This, of course, looks differently for everyone. It depends on what your plans are, but also on the kind of person you are.

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When you plan your 30 minutes, make sure you have more than 30 minutes’ time in your schedule, just so you can afford to give yourself breaks in between.

I’ve always been envious of writers who start their day with writing. It seems so perfect to wake up at 6am and dive into a world of your own creation while the birds are singing their morning song outside – all before anyone else’s day has even started!

Truth is, that’s not the kind of writer I am. Out of all those thousands of days I’ve spent writing, I’d say about 80% was done in the evening. That’s when I like to sit down and take time for myself. And that’s when I have the energy to come up with plots and words.

Knowing I’m an evening writer has made it easier to plan my daily 30. I always consider what my evening will look like that day. Is it free? Great! Then I can do my writing. Do I have other activities planned? Then I need to move my writing to earlier in the day — or write after those activities (this happens more than I like to admit).

Reap the Benefits

If you thought 30 minutes was short, then you might start frowning completely when I talk about writing sprints lasting just ten or even five minutes. Let’s be real: that’s a very small period of time.

And yet.

One of the benefits of a daily writing habit is that you get used to it. Half an hour doesn’t feel short anymore now that just doing it has become second nature. And that means I’ve become really good at being really productive during short sprints.

Our brains like regularity and consistency. The Daily 30 uses that to its advantage. The longer you do it, the easier it becomes — so, really, taking breaks helps you train your brain to lock in when it needs to.

Writing Prompt: Take a Break

If you’re looking for some inspiration this week, why not dive into this writing prompt? (And feel free to take breaks while doing so!)

“When was the last time you truly felt at peace?”
Answer the question above either for yourself or from the perspective of one of your characters.

A Break Isn’t Cheating

It might feel “weak” or “like cheating” to pause the clock during a writing sprint. But, really, it’s all about getting to those 30 minutes of writing. Whether you do that in one go or with 29 breaks in between doesn’t matter.

Each day of your writing streak will look differently. Those days when you need lots of breaks? Those just show your resilience, so embrace them.

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Priscilla Kint