“Oh yeah,” you said six months ago, I can totally finish this book. I have nothing but time! I’m practically made of time! After all, you thought, we’re all quarantined, and I don’t have anything better to do! How hard could writing in COVID be?

Yeah, right. If there’s anything us writers do best, it’s find excuses to not write. “One night off won’t kill me,” we say for the tenth day in a row. At some point, we have to admit it; circumstances aren’t the only thing that keep us from cranking out that draft. There’s a lot more at play.

If, like me, you suffer from ADD or ADHD, you’ve probably heard of the term “executive dysfunction.” Basically, this is like when you tell yourself to do the dishes and then watch yourself burn through the front page of Reddit for five hours instead. And, yeah, not everyone has executive dysfunction, but everyone CAN fall into a sort of low-calorie version. We all spend time procrastinating when we don’t want to. You don’t need to have ADHD to waste time. However, all the same tricks that help people like me deal with executive dysfunction can also apply to you!

The “Scheduled Time Block” Method

The simplest form of getting on track, scheduling a time block is so easy, you’ve probably already tried it. If this doesn’t work for you, move on to the next tips, but if you’re still interested, I have a few tricks to help you schedule most effectively.

First off, don’t set aside any less than an hour. Half an hour of writing is amazing, but it can be so easy to overlook a half-hour and realize that you’ve blazed right past it. Leaving yourself a full hour means that you have wiggle room! Don’t expect to write for that entire hour, either. It won’t happen. Unless you’re Brandon Sanderson, that’s a big burden to place on yourself. Be merciful to yourself. Writing in COVID takes time! Even just 15 minutes will make a huge difference for your productivity in the long run.

Try to avoid placing your writing time just before any stressful events. If that’s unavoidable, that’s fine, but writing often improves with your mood. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve tried writing in the middle of a mental breakdown and folks, if there’s anything that will kill a paragraph, it’s being too far inside your own head. Manage your time wisely.

The “Egg Timer” Method

Alright, so you’ve found some spare time. Great! Now you just have to convince yourself to actually write. But sometimes, you’ll find yourself scrolling through social media instead. This method is to let that habit win—for five minutes at a time. Get an eggtimer, an eggtimer app, or just go to e.ggtimer.com, and set a five minute alarm. You can do whatever you want during this time. Go wild! Watch a movie, argue with meatheads on Twitter, go visit a geocities page, whatever you kids do these days. But as soon as that timer goes off, it’s time to work. Set a fifteen-minute or longer increment to blast your creative juices. If you can’t write, just sit there until you do.

Is it boring? Yup. Depressing? Hopefully not, but it can be. Sometimes, the best way to get started is to write a sentence and just keep going, regardless of whether it makes sense or not. Either way, you’ll fill out a page. And if you’re just starting out, that’s good enough. As for you authors with a second draft, just mangle a sentence or two, regardless of quality. That’ll get you started.

Once your timer goes off, either restart the cycle or keep on writing!

The “Sensory Hugbox” Method

This one is a big, big, big tip for all my neurodivergent readers. But even if you’re neurotypical, you might find this pretty helpful.

Remove yourself from loud, high-energy environments. Sounds obvious, huh? Yeah, well I don’t just mean find a quiet place. Smells, tactile sensations, bright colors, and loud noises are rhythm killers. Even though you always hear “go write in a coffee shop,” that’s just about the worst advice I can give to someone with writer’s block. Not just because of COVID. Your local Starbucks probably has dozens of visitors every hour. Not to mention the music, the talking, the smells—if you struggle with your senses to any extent, that kind of environment is absolutely toxic for your writing. You can remedy it with headphones, sure. If that works, great! It doesn’t for me, though. Find the most peaceful place you can imagine. Don’t just look for an absence of sound or smells, find a place filled with sensory experiences that work for you. For me, it’s my front porch. The scent of pine needles, the light traffic in the distance, the wood under my socks—it works to my creative advantage. It is my sensory hugbox. Yours might be different. It might be in a public park, in your closet, or even in your local library.

So long as it works, it works. Trust me, writing in COVID gets a lot easier when you’re comfy.

The “Fix Your Environment” Method

This might seem like a clone of the last tip. Nope! When I say you need to fix your environment, I mean that you need to take care of yourself and the things around you first and foremost. Writing takes a lot of mental space and energy. You need to give yourself as much emotional space as possible to access that space! Sometimes, when we can’t write, it’s a reflection of problems that have held us down for a while—work stress, cleaning, bills, or even relationship problems that hang over us in our everyday lives. Our lives have changed so much over the last year or so, and writing in COVID has probably stolen the wind from your sails. Sometimes, you’ve gotta take care of yourself before your manuscript.

So clean that room, wash those dishes, apply for that job, and then you can come back with a lighter heart and a healthier outlook! It does wonders. Reach out to therapists, friends, parents, and partners for help. Trust me, as someone who’s wallowed in the depths of self-loathing and depression for years, getting better will not “dull your spark.” Happier people write better. That’s just how it works. Writing in COVID might be the hardest time to write, so give yourself the opportunity to thrive, and your writing habits will drastically improve.

And on and on we go…

I hope these tips work for you! If you still have trouble getting a reliable habit down, don’t fret. Writing takes time. Your novel will come out better the less you rush yourself, and even if you skip a writing day, remember that there’s always tomorrow. Love yourself, and love your art. That’s all there is to it!