People often complain that they don’t have time to write the book they imagine or to embrace being a “real” writer. I’ve felt the pressure myself. Lacking time, we shut off the spigot of inspiration.

Nope. I’m too busy to be creative.

Instead, we defer. We delay. We get sucked into the daily grind and put aside our writing dreams. Being a writer with a capital W? That’s gotta wait for a simpler future.

Spoiler alert: The future is rarely simple. Today, busy as it is, may be a better option.

And there’s good news, too: Creativity doesn’t take a lot of room. Indeed, it creates space by opening up possibilities.

Your Muse doesn’t need your constant, undivided attention. She’ll show up if you hold the door and welcome her into your life regularly—even when you’re busy.

We can cultivate creativity even in busy lives. The process might feel messy and imperfect, but so is life.

If you’re feeling too busy to do the writing you dream of, consider embracing the magic of the small: small steps, small pieces, small practices.

The next, small step on a longer path

Every large project begins with a small movement—an idea, a journal entry, a conversation. Some artists claim to receive one big “download” of a song or a poem, or even a book. But for most of us, the work accrues regularly—miles patiently travelled.

A book begins with an idea, a question. It proceeds through a series of steps that you string together—none are daunting when taken individually. Only when we look at the whole thing do we feel overwhelm.

We often feel that to accomplish an important project—the book, the great essay—we needed to clear the decks. And hurrah if you can do so. But too often, waiting for the right time means delaying. And when we finally get those decks clear and dive in, we may find ourselves in over our heads.

By trying to do “the big important thing” all at once, we risk burning out.

In the book Effortless, Greg McKeown suggests setting boundaries on daily writing when writing a book: at least 500 words, but not more than 1000 words. Many authors give themselves similar, bounded daily objectives. Why?

Because when push ourselves to do more, we tend to get overwhelmed and our progress stalls. Better to find a sustainable pace made of manageable increments.

Embrace and appreciate the compounding power of daily progress. Showing up regularly is like leaving little windows open for the Muse to sneak in, even in a busy, crowded life.

Small Steps: Take a page from James Clear’s Atomic Habits, and commit to yourself to spend at least 10 minutes every day on your writing. If you’re thinking of a book, spend that 15 minutes on ideas related to your book topic. Note that you don’t have to be making progress on the draft: simply revisit and touch it, think about it, journal about it. This adds up. Make room in the margins.

Small gems

What if you put aside the dream writing project for a moment and focus on creating a little gem instead?

• A beautifully crafted blog post or flash-fiction story
• A poem
• A personal essay you share with the world or friends
• A collection of tiny insights

The saying “good things come in small packages” refers to writing as well. Tackling the tiny might reinvigorate your writing, giving your Muse a chance to show up without a heavy burden of expectations, and without burning out.

Ideas for mining the gems: If you’re stalled on your book, why not try flash fiction (or non-fiction)? Join a writing group, or simply find a writing friend, and challenge each other to exchange a short story, essay or poem. See how it feels to create and share.

If you’re working on a book, line up small gems related to the book’s topic or for a similar audience. Write blog posts or poems or short essays about your topic. They may reinvigorate the book.

Daily craft practices

Dealing with endless emails. Populating the blog. Posting on social media or contributing to an email newsletter. Writing summaries or reports for groups or teams.

Many of the million little things that demand our attention during the day involve writing. Even full-time authors can find themselves derailed by this stuff.

We can may see them as barriers to our art—preventing us from being a Writer with a capital W.

What if we treat these small, necessary acts as exercises in craft, worth respecting or honoring? What if we relax and open the window to creativity and enjoyment, even as we hone our skills in unavoidable daily writing?

What does that look like? Treat the small transactional things you write—emails, social media posts—as writing exercises. Try something new or play with the words.

• When crafting an email or message, take a moment to structure the most compelling approach to motivate the recipient rather than simply letting it flow out of your fingers and hitting Send.
• Include a short anecdote or story in a social media post to practice story-finding.
• Sneak in an unusual verb or a fun flourish of alliteration into a group, even if no one will notice. You’ll know.

Facing a busy day, tell yourself, “Ah, I get to write today. Good.”

With this mindset, you’ll welcome exploration and fun back into writing, rather than a sense of drudgery. Your Muse might show up. If nothing else, you may feel better about the work, and yourself as a writer.

Related reading

Oliver Burkeman’s Meditations for Mortals is inspiring me lately, and helped shape the “messy and imperfect” ideas in this pot.

I’ve revisited areas of “too busy to write” for years. Here are a couple short posts from the past

On clearing away the unnecessary: Clear the Weeds and Make Time to Write

On scheduling your time: Why Writing Takes More, and Less, Time Than You Think