The Five-Minute Writer

With National Novel Writing Month (often called NANO) coming up in November, many of us will be looking for ways to sneak tiny tidbits of writing into the workday when our schedules don't allow larger blocks of time. Here are some tactics that have worked for me:

• Take the laptop or even pad & pen, sit in the car during breaks and lunch, and write in solitude.
• If the staff room is fairly quiet, do the same there. Wearing headphones (even if you're not listening to anything) will send a message that you're not available to chat, if that's an issue.
• Write five minutes before leaving for work, in addition to whatever you're already doing.
• Write five minutes after arriving home, in addition to what you already do.
• Write whenever you're sitting in a waiting room, in the car at soccer practice, etc.
• Write during empty transition times such as when waiting for food to cook or the laundry to finish drying.
• If you commute by bus, write during your commute...if it doesn't give you motion sickness & you can get a seat!

Many of these tricks can be used with activities other than writing. If you can lose the assumption that productive work can only be done in large blocks of time, you'll be surprised by what you can accomplish.