All writing is discipline. Writing is a day-by-day job: you write the story scene by scene, page by page, day by day. It is an experimental and learning process involving the acquisition of skill and coordination.

When you are in the writing experience, you are near your loved ones in body, but your mind and concentration are a thousand miles away. You cannot break your concentration to deal with snacks, laundry, meals or shopping.

You need space, private time, support, encouragement and understanding.

If you are married, or in a relationship, it’s going to be difficult.

No matter how many times you explain that you are “going to be writing”, it doesn’t help.

• Don’t expect loved ones to understand the process of writing. Even if they say they do, they don’t. It’s not because they do not want to support or understand you, but simply because they do not understand the writing experience. If you expect loved ones to get upset or not understand when you are writing, it won’t bother you when it occurs. Expect a tough time and you will be fine.
• Never feel guilty about taking the time you need to write, or become a victim of your emotions. It’s tough to handle: emotion or guilt, anger or frustration can easily cause you to not write.

Take control and ownership of your writing.

From inspiration to the final draft, a screenwriter needs as much time to write a screenplay as a novelist would write a four hundred-page novel.

The only difference is the number of words used in the telling. While novelists fill the pages as fast as they can type, screenwriters cut and cut again, ruthless in their desire to express the absolute maximum in the fewest possible words.

The freedom to fill pages with prose often makes the task easier, faster. A screenplay’s painstaking economy of language demands sweat and time.

Take control and ownership of your writing. Maximising your productivity – time management

Maximise your creative expression forms part of The Write Voice creative writing course

Take ownership of your writing with The Write Journey course