The 15 Minute Commitment

Small commitments can yield big results

Some time ago, I read a super quick e-book written by Jennifer Blanchard, The 15-Minute Writer.

As happens with many books I read, I file away the info in my brain and use it when I finally remember it. (I’m getting older, so sometimes I don’t remember it.)

My critique friend and I once discussed the merits of committing to 15 minutes a day of writing. Later, I had a similar conversation with my poet friend.

It’s amazing what happens when you sit down to write, committed to a small amount of time. Even if it’s a complete struggle to get through those 15 minutes, at the end of them you feel renewed. You kept your promise to yourself. You wrote today.

However, more often than not, I find that I sit down for my commitment, and hours will pass as my fingers dance across the keyboard and ideas pour out of my head.

For example, yesterday I opened my novel, got distracted, and when I sat back down I was almost out of time before I had to move on to another commitment. But I thought of one tiny thing I wanted to tweak before I closed out my novel. That led to another small item I wanted to change, which led to another. In just a couple of minutes, I had made several changes, and still kept my other commitment. That’s the power of small commitments to writing.

On most occasions, I get lost in the story. Time passes without me noticing. At some point, my dog will come in and huff at me to remind me that she’s hungry. I’ll look at the clock, cursing myself for not taking care of my responsibility to those without opposable digits. I’ll run quickly to the kitchen to feed all the hungry mouths around here, then come right back to the keyboard.

Now, here’s the best part.

At the end of the week, I look back at what I’ve accomplished. To my surprise, writing a book doesn’t look so daunting when you have chapters behind you that you feel good about. It makes me want to put more chapters behind me, then get to the next book.

Fifteen minutes did that. It ended up being more time than that, but the commitment was for 15 minutes.

If you genuinely don’t have 15, start with 5.

If you haven’t tried this, I highly recommend The 15-Minute Writer. It’s inexpensive and a quick read.

Have any of you tried this technique?

Has anyone tried and had/not had success with it?

What other methods do you use to gain momentum in your writing?