I used to think writing a book would be just like writing a college essay or a creative writing assignment until I wrote my first book that was published in 2013. Granted, many aspects of the professional writing process were an uphill climb for me. However, setting limits on my time spent elsewhere to make room for writing was the most difficult step.

Back then, I was homeschooling my two high school age sons, teaching a classical literature class, and managing my home. My days were filled with grading English papers or driving the boys to their math co-op on one side of a large city and to their lab science co-op class on the opposite side. We had an open door policy in our home—which meant people were in and out all the time.

You may think, as I did dozens of times, “Why don’t you just set your writing aside and catch up when life slows down?” Guilt, exhaustion, thinking I needed time alone for me, or a phone call inviting me to coffee all interrupted my writing time on and off—until one day I made up my mind that the book was a priority.

How do we mesh writing into our other responsibilities? When, if ever, should we say no to writing for the sake of another responsibility? In other words, how can I write my book without shirking my other obligations?

These are the questions I had to answer for myself before writing my book could become a solid priority, one which received the same level of respect as grading papers and preparing literature lessons. In the end, I set guidelines for writing my book the same way I did for my other projects. Here’s what I did:

  • Scheduled time to write

    I looked at my calendar and chose realistic time slots that didn’t interfere with my other responsibilities. I think the best part of this step for me was that I felt confidence when I had to say no to a friend inviting me to coffee or when guilt tugged on my heart tempting me to believe I was ignoring my family. In a way, I think the schedule freed me to get my work done.

  • Made a decision to write every day

    Writing a book isn’t a sprint. It’s a marathon. Runners practice every day to prepare their bodies for a 25-mile run. It’s the same for us. The writing muscles in our brains need exercise every day.

  • Set daily goals.

    For the most part, our books are birthed out of our hearts and hearts aren’t easily measurable, so sometimes it’s not easy to know if we are making progress or not. I like to set a daily goal. It’s tangible and factual. Sometimes I set a word count or a number of pages to complete.

What pulls you away from writing? How do you make writing a priority? Do you set daily goals like word count goals? What works for you?