Do you know what’s the worst enemy of a time-starved writer? Spending more time thinking than writing!

I get it, you’re a busy person. You have a job or perhaps studies taking your time, and on top of that, you have other people to look after, dogs to walk and cakes to bake.

Here’s a secret you might not know yet: That’s what life’s like for most modern authors. In 2025, the full-time writer with helpful servants and no other responsibilities is largely a myth.

Here are the two types of thinking that people tend to waste time on instead of writing:

• Should I write now or not? Do I have the time?
• And what should I write anyway?

Before you know it, you’ve spent all your writing time on everything but.

Fortunately, I’ve got a solution. Just pick something from the Simple Writing Tasks based on how much time and energy you have and start making progress on your novel straight away.

Perhaps you’ve got 15 minutes to work on your writing? You could simply choose a “15-minute writing sprint“, but if you don’t yet know what you’re writing, you could go for “Write a list of problems that your characters have” or “Write a paragraph on how your character changes“.

Yes, some of the tasks are incredibly simple, like “Edit one page“, but that’s not by accident. You can’t afford to waste time on overthinking and sometimes you just need a simple thing to focus on.

Not knowing what to write is another big time-suck and that’s why the Simple Writing Tasks includes multiple activities that have you plan and outline your story one easy step at a time.

No, we don’t all have the same 24 hours. But most of us have 15 minutes a day to work on things that we love.

Every book you’ve ever read has been written one word at a time.

So what if it’s going to take you five years? The time will pass anyway. With the Simple Writing Tasks, you’ll spend that time making actual progress. On top of that, you’ll write a lot faster because you’ve stopped wasting time on thinking when you should be writing!

Who am I to teach you anything?

Here’s a picture of me pretending to think about what I’m going to write. In reality, I think about writing in the shower and in the car, and when I’m on the computer, I just write.

I don’t have 26.5 hours every day to work on my novels – I have a business to run, litterboxes to clean and children to clothe. Still, I make constant progress with my writing, and I did even when my children were still toddlers.

I’ve learned A LOT about working on your stories even when life gets tough. I’ve made a commitment to this work and I don’t make excuses, but I realise you might need a little more help. That’s why I’m sharing this database of simple writing tasks with you, to show you that you can achieve all your writing dreams one step at a time, just like everyone else.