Six tips to help you keep writing during lockdown

With lockdowns happening all over the world, many of us have much more time at home, and in theory, more time to write. But what if you’re feeling to stressed or distracted to write?

Here are 6 tips to help you write during lockdown

1. If you can’t stop worrying, try keeping a stress journal. Write down everything that’s on your mind whenever it stops you from doing something, like working or sleeping. It can be really therapeutic.
2. If you can’t stop checking news updates, make a decision to get one news update per day, to keep yourself informed. For the rest of the time, use a website blocker, like Freedom. This will let you choose the websites you want to block and the amount of time you want to block them for.
3. If you’re struggling to focus on your idea at the moment, try taking an online course. I created a little video course about Writing Children’s Picture Books for Skillshare. You can get 2 months free of Skillshare through this link. There are LOADS of other writing courses on Skillshare, by the way. Definitely worth a look.
4. I also recently shared this amazing free Pixar screenwriting course. Now could be a good time to work your way through it and develop a new idea at the same time.
5. If all you can think about is Coronavirus, keep a journal. Write about what’s going on in the world, about any symptoms you experience, about the experience of social distancing and staying home for weeks on end. At some point in the future, you might be able to use this as a spring board for an idea. At any rate, I’m sure it will be a fascinating thing to look back on when all this is long in the past.
6. Instead of watching hours of Netflix, use some of that time to write. If you find it hard to switch off and focus, use a stop watch. Start by writing or brainstorming for 10 minutes each day, and build up minute by minute. Before long you will have developed a really solid daily writing routine.

I hope you found these 6 tips helpful and that you’re able to keep writing during the Coronavirus pandemic. If you need any other tips, head over to my website

Do get in touch and let me know what you’re struggling with or what strategies work for you. I’d love to hear from you!

Stay well and keep writing 🙂