How to Protect Your Writing Time Without Feeling Guilty

One of the hardest parts of being a writer is being able to protect your writing time so you can do what writers need to do: sit down and get the words written.

It sounds easy enough in theory to make writing a priority, set boundaries, and stick to a writing schedule. But in practice, our other responsibilities creep up and often overtake any time we’ve carved out for writing. And while sometimes this is unavoidable (for example: your kid is sick and you have to shift your priorities for the day), too often this comes down to our own guilt convincing us to give our time to other tasks instead of our writing.

Guilt can feel overwhelming and can convince us that we should be doing other things instead of writing. It can make us question if diverting time from our other responsibilities to write is selfish, and once we begin to feel like we’re being selfish, it’s far too easy to give up our writing time for other things.

But protecting time for our writing isn’t selfish. It’s necessary if we want to make progress with our stories. So how do we protect that time without feeling guilty? Here’s some ideas.

Understand Where the Guilt Comes From

The biggest key to protecting your writing time without feeling guilty is understanding where that guilt comes from in the first place. Once you understand what that guilt is rooted in, it’s much easier to overcome it and move forward.

Guilt often stems from societal expectations and norms around what is considered productive. Since writing is something that often isn’t rewarded with a payoff for some time, it’s too easy to view things like cleaning the house or running errands to be a better use of our time. In our hustle-oriented culture, unless it’s bringing in money right away, it’s often considered not worth our time.

In order to move past this view, we need to be willing to look beyond monetary value and see what writing does give us. Even if you never see a penny from your writing efforts, if writing brings you joy, purpose, emotional release, etc., it’s worth your time.

(Read More: Does Writing Need to be Useful to be Worthwhile?)

For women and mothers in particular, these societal expectations can feel even more intense. The moment we add children into the mix, mom guilt kicks in and makes us feel even worse for choosing our writing first. Society expects mothers to be selfless, and choosing to spend time on our writing is often framed as putting our children second.

But the truth is that being a good mom doesn’t mean putting your children first always. Beyond being a mom, you’re still a person with her own needs. If writing brings value and meaning to your life, then you deserve the time to pursue that. Just as we encourage moms to spend time on fitness goals so they can remain healthy for their children, we should also encourage moms to spend time on things that fulfill them, writing included.

(Read More: How Becoming a Mom Changed my Writing Life)

Redefine What ‘Protected Writing Time’ Means

The other biggest obstacle I see writers battling when it comes to protecting their writing time is the belief that they need hours of uninterrupted, quiet time to make any serious progress with their writing.

The idea that solid writing can only happen with long stretches of allotted time often sets writers up for failure. For many of us, finding those large chunks of time really is impossible, and if we believe that’s the only way to make progress with our writing, we’ll feel defeated each week when we fail to come up with the time.

But progress can happen even with short intervals of time. Words can be written even when the conditions don’t feel perfect. Even if your ideal writing time looks like a few hours locked away in your office with no interruptions, you can still make progress in 20-minute sprints when your kids are in the other room. Learning to adapt and be open to working on your writing even when the conditions are less than perfect is the key to finding time for your writing even when life already feels so busy.

Protected writing time doesn’t mean the conditions have to be just right. It simply means finding time that will work, one way or another, and then showing up for your writing.

Deciding Once and For All Your Writing is a Priority

Here’s the reality: no one is going to magically hand you time to work on your writing. The people in your life may be willing and eager to support your writing ambitions, but they won’t know what that looks like unless you tell them what it looks like. And in order to speak up for your writing dreams and hold the boundaries that will allow you time to write, you need to be rock solid that writing is a priority in your life.

I strongly believe there’s a difference between knowing writing is something you enjoy and being firm in considering it a priority in your life. While you might enjoy writing, if it’s not something you’re actively making time and energy for, it will be difficult to make much progress. And while it’s perfectly fine to write for the fun of it, if you have serious writing goals and ambitions, you need to make writing a priority.

Once you’ve decided writing is a non-negotiable in your life, it becomes so much easier to convey that to others and hold firm to the boundaries you set to protect your writing time. While guilt may still crop up, being solid in knowing that writing is important to you will help you move beyond the guilt and write anyway. But if you, yourself, are still wishy-washy on how important writing time is to you, guilt and other obligations will creep in and steal away any time you try to set aside for your writing.

Practical Ways to Protect Writing Time

In addition to preparing mentally to protect your writing time, here are some practical ways to protect your writing time from intrusions as well:

1. Communicate Expectations with Your Family

Making sure your family is aware of your scheduled writing time is crucial for ensuring it’s not stolen away. If your husband isn’t aware that you intend to write on a particular evening, he might schedule something else for the evening thinking it’s free. If your kids are old enough, explain to them that you’re going into your office for 30 minutes to write and unless there’s an emergency, they’re to leave you alone for that time. Protecting your writing time should look like any other appointment or obligation you have. If you don’t tell others in your household the plan, they won’t know to respect it.

2. Use Environmental Cues and/or Routine to Your Advantage

Before I had my son, my writing time mainly happened on my lunch hours at my office job. I kept this time free from other obligations to the best of my ability, went to Starbucks on my lunch, and sat down with my computer and worked for the hour. Even on days I wasn’t particularly motivated to write, the predictability of the routine signaled to my brain that this was writing time, and more often than not, once I sat down with my coffee, I was able to get into writing mode.

Finding a routine that works for you is advantageous not only because it will be easier to schedule regularly, but also because it sends the signal that it’s time to write. Sitting down in a certain space in your house, or with a certain beverage, or with a certain candle lit, sparks recognition that this means it’s writing time. Once you get into this routine, it will make it easier to make progress even on days you might not feel intrinsically motivated.

3. Capitalize on Your Peak Times

Knowing what time of day you write best can be helpful in protecting your writing time. If you’re not naturally creative and/or coherent first thing in the morning, trying to force yourself out of bed early to write likely won’t work out in the end. Understanding when your creative energy is at its peak can help you make decisions about when you’ll aim to schedule writing time. While it may not always be realistic to fit in writing when you’re at your absolute peak (for example, you might be at work during that time), this can still be helpful in making decisions about writing time. If you’re naturally a morning person and all of your mental energy is expended by the time 7pm hits, you’ll want to aim for writing earlier in the day versus expecting yourself to write in the evening after the kids are in bed.

Another thing to consider is what your other obligations look like and whether you can shift those to different times to make room for writing. For example, I often have to remind myself that while I could fold laundry and wash dishes during the day while my son is at school, those are things I can realistically do when he’s home whereas working on my writing isn’t. While it would be faster and a bit easier to fold clothes without him underfoot, I know it will be impossible to write with him in the house constantly asking me for another snack. Reminding myself of this allows me to let go of the guilt of not doing the laundry during school hours and instead keep that time protected for writing and other things I know I can’t do when he’s home.

4. Plan Your Writing Time Around Life Rather than Waiting for Life to Calm Down

Too often, I hear people say they want to write a novel, but they’re waiting until life calms down a bit. “I’ll write when the kids are in school,” or “I’ll write when I retire,” or “I’ll start writing after the holidays” are all examples of people with dreams they’ve put on hold while they wait for things to calm down.

But the reality is that life rarely does give us perfectly quiet spans of time to work toward our dreams. We might wait years for retirement, only to then be confronted by a parent who falls ill and needs caretaking. Or we might wait until the kids are in school only to realize life is still just as crazy and those free hours are quickly taken up by other responsibilities. The people who meet their goals and make their dreams reality are generally the ones who worked toward them consistently through the ups and downs of life rather than waiting for the conditions to be perfect.

You may not have as much time as you wish you could have right now to work on your writing, but some progress is better than none. And keeping writing a priority in your life even when it feels chaotic is good practice for making it a priority in the stretches when life is a little quieter. Consistent, slow progress will add up and bring you further than only working when you have ideal conditions.

(Read More: How to Write a Novel with a Full-Time Job)

You’re Allowed to Take Yourself Seriously

While society and hustle culture can breed guilt over our writing time, that guilt isn’t a reliable indicator of whether we’re doing something wrong. More often, it’s simply a sign that we’re pushing up against old expectations that say our creative work should come last. Choosing to protect your writing time doesn’t mean you’re neglecting your other responsibilities — it means you’re honoring a part of yourself that deserves space, attention, and care.

You don’t need to earn your writing time by finishing everything else first. You don’t need permission to want this. And you don’t need perfect conditions to make meaningful progress. Protecting your writing time is less about rigid schedules and more about deciding, again and again, that your writing matters enough to show up for.

If guilt has been one of the biggest things holding you back from writing consistently, you don’t have to work through that alone. I share weekly insights, encouragement, and practical mindset support for writers inside my email list — you can join it here if you’d like ongoing reminders that your writing deserves a place in your life. And if you’re ready for deeper, personalized support in untangling the beliefs that keep you stuck, you can also explore working with me through book coaching focused on mindset and follow-through.

Your writing isn’t selfish. It’s important. And you’re allowed to protect it.