You Don't Need 2 Hours to Write (Do You Have Five Minutes?)

Five-minute bursts build complete stories.

You don't need two uninterrupted hours to write. You need five focused minutes.

I call it "chunked focus." Set a timer. Write one section of your story. Stop when it goes off.

Tomorrow, write the next section. Five minutes.

By the end of the week, you have a complete story. Not because you found time—because you used the time you had.

When my daughters were babies, this was the only way I could write. Five minutes while they napped. Five minutes before bed. Five minutes in the morning.

Those five-minute chunks accumulated into finished pieces.

You advance on your stories by coming back, not by marathon sessions.

Try this today:

Set a timer for 5 minutes. Write the middle of the story you picked yesterday (Desire, Obstacle, Outcome). When the timer goes off, stop.

Tomorrow, you'll add the beginning. Day after, the ending.

That's it. Three 5-minute sessions = one complete story by the end of the week.

Reply and tell me: what 5-minute chunk will you write today? Bonus brownie points if you send me a 5-minute story to read. 

P.S. This "chunked focus" approach is the foundation of how writers complete their first story in just 4 days during The Story Frame Sprint bootcamp.