There is a particular thing that happens when you decide to take the plunge and become a professional author. Somehow, you’ve separated yourself from the masses of ‘work from home’ people and have become a ‘they’re always playing on their computer’ person.

Really, it’s the oddest thing and I’ll never understand it. When someone works from home, most people understand that once they clock in, they’re working. They have set hours, set breaks, and it’s acknowledged that they’re at an actual job and shouldn’t be bothered.

Authors? Nope. We’re just playing at working and are fair game. Need someone to watch the kids? The author is home! Need someone to bounce ideas off of, run errands with, have a coffee or drink with? Go bug the author, they’re not doing anything!

Every interruption breaks the flow, rips you out of the storyline you’re working on, and keeps you from finishing what you’re doing. It takes time to get back into the frame of mind you were in, time to find the rhythm you had, and that extra time can derail the entire day. Too many days like this, and we get caught in the cycle of writers block until the entire novel seems impossible to finish. I know, I’ve been there. So, what can we do?

Find What Works For You

In order to set a schedule, you have to find what works for you. Don’t read a bunch of articles on how famous authors write and think you should be doing that, too. If you’re a night owl, play to your strengths. Don’t try to get up super early and hit targets before the family wakes up. It won’t work and you’ll just end up frustrated. Likewise, if you’re an early riser, forcing yourself to stay up late to get things done will just make your brain shut down.

Take a step back and analyze your actual writing habits. When do you find you write the most? When is it the easiest for you to get words down? If you have a regular day job or kids, how do you find time to write in between the general chaos of running a household? Do you have a home office or separate area you go to for writing, or do you stay in the family areas?

All of these things are part and parcel of figuring out how and when you write best. Once you know your normal habits, you can start to define what you need in order to set your schedule and communicate that to family and friends.

Set Expectations Clearly and Early

Now you’ve figured out when and where you normally write, it’s time to set your schedule. Most jobs are the typical 9-5, or whatever counts for ‘normal’, anyway. You work so many hours, you get so many breaks. This is similar! You don’t want to set aside a certain amount of hours and disappear, because it will end in frustration on all sides.

Ensure you’ve given yourself enough time to get into writing-mode first and have ample time to write. Build in breaks. Not only for yourself- to grab something to eat, to have a quick bathroom or smoking break. To get up and walk around, get circulation moving again, etc.

But also, so if something is going on or the family needs you, they’ll be able to wait until that break period to talk to you without interrupting. If they don’t know when you’re resurfacing, everything feels like an emergency. If they know they only have 15 minutes until your break, it seems more doable to wait a bit.

Make sure everyone knows the schedule. These are the times you are working, and yes, you are actually working. These are your break periods, and you can attend to whatever needs handling during those break periods. Any other time, they need to deal with it on their own or find an adultier adult to figure it out.

Everyone needs to understand that what you are doing is work and needs to be treated that way. You’re not scrolling TikTok. You’re not playing Candy Crush or whatever the new fad is. You’re at your job, and just because you’re the boss, it doesn’t mean you get to slack off. We have deadlines and taxes just like everyone else.

Stick To Your Own Schedule

You’ve created your schedule, explained it to the family, and you’re ready to get started. Well… now that you’ve set aside this time strictly for work, why does your brain not want to cooperate? Trust me, this happens to us all. Ever been in the shower or super close to falling asleep and your brain throws the best plots or character arcs at you, but there’s nothing to write with and you know you’re going to forget them? Our brains seem set to sabotage us.

Once we set aside actual writing times, it’s almost like our muses go silent and we just sit there staring at the screen. That’s okay! Don’t give up and don’t give in. Maybe you can’t write at that moment, but you can work on writing-adjacent things. Edit and proofread work from the past days. Read back your plotting notes or research to see if something sparks inspiration again.

Work on character building sheets, to get to know your characters on a deeper level, which helps to flesh them out and make them more ‘real’ in your mind as you’re writing them. Post snippets or behind the scenes peeks on your social media to keep readers interested.

Whatever you do, keep yourself in a writing frame of mind. The hours you’ve set are your working hours, and you need to utilize them for that, even if you can’t seem to get the words flowing right then. It’s said that it takes 30 days to build a habit. Now, the number of days may not line up right and might differ, but the point remains the same.

Focusing on doing something with your writing every day, at the same time and on the same schedule, will eventually turn into a habit that you start doing without thinking about it.

Create Your Safe Space

To help with this, no matter where you have chosen as your place to write, make it your own. Noise-canceling headphones necessary? Get them. Need some lil snackie snacks to keep you going? Stash ’em. Comfortable chair, lots of fluffy pillows? You do you!

For me, personally, I have a lot of back issues so I have to write upstairs on the couch surrounded by the chaos of my loud and lively family. For the back issues, I have to sit a certain way, so my mom makes sure the couch is always set in the living room a certain way so I can sit on the side that doesn’t hurt me.

I have a bunch of pillows that I have built up into a nice little pile shaped to my hips and lower back, so I have support, as well as a heating blanket and heating pad. I’m one of those old-school girlies, so I still have my old iPod. When it’s time to write, I pop in my earbuds and play whatever music suits the work at the moment.

If I find that music is too distracting, I can simply turn off the music and keep the earbuds in, muting the sounds of the house somewhat. Usually I’ll have my water bottle at the ready with my Mio in it, and assorted snacks in a bin on my side table. That way, if I get snackish or thirsty, I don’t have to get up and go to the kitchen, everything is within reach.

Avoid Nosiness (I know, I know!)

Now, here’s the biggest issue. You will always have someone that doesn’t realize you’re working, or doesn’t respect the schedule. You will have noise break through the headphones, see activity going on around you. If you’re in the middle of it, like I am, you’re going to be distracted here or there. Family used to wave at me to get my attention to ask me things until I explained how badly that interrupted my train of thought.

Still, when you know things are going on around you, it’s really hard to not be nosy. Especially because, as creatives, we’re all naturally a bit nosy! It will take time, but eventually you will learn to train your brain to ignore the small distractions, to get back into the flow of writing quicker, and to stay on track.

Final Thoughts

In the end, if you treat your writing as a business and your schedule like a normal 9-5 job, everyone else will learn to see it that way, too. It starts with consistency, and after a while it becomes a normal part of your work week. Find what works for you, what you need in order to write in peace, and protect that time/space. After all, no one can write your next bestseller but you.