How To Balance School And Writing

Let me preface this entire post by saying, I'm not an expert at this. In fact, I'm writing this right now when I should actually be studying (how to defeat procrastination blog post coming soon...hehe). But, if it makes up for my hypocrisy, I don't think anyone is perfect when it comes to juggling school and writing. To do both and still produce good content on both ends is nearly impossible in my opinion because writing (most times) is an escape; school is somewhat the opposite. We already know which of the two we'd rather do.

However, after writing for years while being in school and doing pretty okay so far, I think I've developed some really useful strategies along the way. A few of which, I'll be sharing with you guys right now! So, as much as we'd all love to drop out and write full time, we can't. Instead of wishing on some barely-there star, let's at least make the best out of reality. Plus, imagine how self-made you'll sound when you cop that Ellen interview!

I know. What a dream. But before we start drooling, if you're new to my blog, welcome! I do posts like this all the time and if you like what you read, feel free to subscribe so you can get notified every time I drop something post! To my constant readers, you guys already know how much I love you! Oh, and don't forget to tap that little heart icon so I can feel extra special! Alright now that that's out of the way, this is: How To Balance School And Writing!

1. Prioritize

Now this is a tricky one. Priorities are extremely subjective and it takes lots of self-discipline to assign your tasks different levels of importance. But deep down, I think we know which task is more important but we just delude ourselves into doing which we prefer. That has to stop. Usually, school work needs to take precedence over our writing but that isn't always the case, especially if you're considering writing as a career. Here are a few questions you should ask yourself to decide which is more important in the moment:

1. How much will either benefit you?

2. Will you have ample time to do it later?

3. What are the immediate repercussions of not doing this right now?

2. Timetable

You don't say, Matthew. I know, I know, we've all tried to timetable and have failed miserably each time. But as I said earlier, this entire post requires a lot of discipline. Set up your timetable in the way that will give you the most productivity, not necessarily based on how you would like things to go. Take who you are into consideration and timetable accordingly. For example, I always place something with a pressing deadline after something without. Let's say I have two things to do, item 1 and item 2. Item 1 is due tomorrow while item 2 is due in four days. I'd timetable working on item 2 before item 1, That way, I'll work as hard and fast as possible to get the item 2 out of the way in order to get to item 1. Then, later I can simply edit item 2 and it would be essentially ready for it's own deadline.

Now, this may not work for everyone, but perhaps consider timetabling according to your peak hours of the day or whether or not you'll have internet access at certain times. Factor in everything that would usually contribute to how productive you are and use that to timetable.

*Pro tip: Don't lie to yourself. You might be able to write your story at 3 a.m. but you know damn well you can't write essays at that time. You're not fooling anyone, Jan.

3. Make Time

Ah yes, remember all that time you spend listening to music on your ride home, or talking with your friends when you don't have a class? Good times, right? Yeah, except future you is going to hate present you for allowing everything to pile up. Never complain that you don't have time readers, we always have time we just squander it without even realizing. All the time that you spend watching Netflix is enough time to finish 2 essays and write a whole new chapter. Think about it.

Doing well means sacrifices. Drake knows what he's talking about on his More Life album (drop a like if you know which song I'm talking about). If you really want to do your best and ensure that whatever you produce is quality, then you're going to have to sacrifice all that time that we normally spend having fun. At first, it may seem hard but I promise, once you've seen all the work that you've gotten done, you'll be in absolute awe. Just try it!

Conclusion

That's all for today, readers. As students and writers, life can get pretty hectic, to say the least, but it's possible. People have done it before us and will do it after us. So start Prioritizing, draft that smart Timetable and Make Time for the things that are important. Thank me later.

Drop a like if you found this post useful and leave a comment telling me if there are any other tips I should consider or if you'd like to see more blog posts with useful tips about writing! Don't forget to follow me on Wattpad and Medium to read more of my stuff! To keep up with me on social media, follow me on Twitter and Instagram where I occasionally rant, share music and discuss the pains of being a creator. Oh, also, I share sneak peeks of my novel and new blog posts at times too, if you're into that. Have a great weekend, readers!