I’ve come to realize there’s no such thing as the perfect writing schedule.

It’s tempting to think there is. Somewhere out there is a magical combination of early mornings, color-coded planners, and uninterrupted focus… and once you find it, writing will finally be easy and consistent.

But that version of a schedule assumes a VERY cooperative life.

The authors I know are juggling a lot. Jobs. Kids. Aging parents. A dog that is chewing their couch. Edits. Marketing. Energy that shows up inconsistently and flees without warning. And most are beating themselves up because they can’t stick to a schedule that wasn’t designed for reality in the first place.

It’s not an issue of discipline. It’s an issue of setup.

I’ve written books during times where I had long, luxurious spans of time and in times where I snuck fifteen minutes wherever I could. It’s impossible to try to force the same schedule to work across every season of life and every phase of a novel. 

Plotting uses different muscles than writing.

Writing doesn’t have the same feel as editing. 

Releasing a book doesn’t work in the same way as dreaming up a new story. 

And yet we expect ourselves to show up on the same time tables every time, and work in the same way.

Another trap authors fall into is building their schedules around “free time” instead of energy. Just because you technically HAVE an hour at night doesn’t mean your brain is capable of doing creative work then. Writing when you’re exhausted doesn’t build masterpieces; it builds frustration. And that frustration is often what makes authors give up on their book. 😱

The most productive writers I know are both flexible and kind to themselves. They don’t panic when a week goes sideways. Instead, they adjust. They focus on progress instead of perfection.

Consistency isn’t about showing up at the same time and place each day—it’s about continuing to come back, even after a missed day, even after a weak scene, even after a bad case of writer’s block.

If your schedule keeps falling apart, that doesn’t mean you’re failing. Let me repeat that for the people in the back. 

If your schedule keeps falling apart, that doesn’t mean you’re failing.

It does mean you need to build a framework that fits your life right now. And maybe that schedule will change next week, and that’s okay.

This week, ask yourself:

• What feels doable for me this month?
• What is on my writing to-do list this week, and what environment and time are needed for that?
• What time of day or location best supports my energy for creativity and writing?
• What’s the minimum I can commit to on a hard day and still feel good about?

And build that week’s schedule around that.

It’s not perfect, but it is doable.

And doable is how books get finished. 🏆

Happy Writing,

Alessandra