The Part-Time Writer

AUTHOR2AUTHOR

How to Be Efficient and Productive with Your Creativity
People often ask me how I’ve managed to publish over 30 novels since 2017 while working full-time as a physician and raising two very active boys. The short answer?

I write in the margins of life.

The long answer—and the one that truly helps fellow writers—is that I’ve learned to protect my creativity and make it ridiculously efficient. Being a part-time writer doesn’t mean producing part-time stories. It means learning how to use the snippets of time most people overlook.

Here’s what has worked for me as a busy author, mom, and physician—and what might help you, too.

1. Dictation: My Secret Superpower
I dictate to and from work, usually when I already have a scene in mind. This is key: dictation is easiest when you’ve mapped out some portion of your story. I’ll glance at my outline before starting the car, then let my creativity unspool on the drive.

In just 20 minutes, I can sometimes get 1,000 words. They’re messy words… but they exist. And messy words can be cleaned. Blank pages cannot.

I also dictate:

• On the way to the airport
• From the airport to conferences
• During walks
• When an idea hits and I want to capture the rhythm of dialogue
  
  

If you’re new to dictation, start with short bursts. Once your brain adapts, it becomes second nature.

2. Writing on Planes (The Underrated Sanctuary)
Some people nap on flights. I pull out my laptop or my Remarkable and treat the plane like a private writing retreat. No laundry. No dishes. No clinic. No kids arguing about who looked at whom first.

Just words.

I start typing the moment we hit cruising altitude. It’s incredible how much you can accomplish in a few uninterrupted hours surrounded by strangers wearing noise-canceling headphones.

3. Always Keep a Notebook (or a Remarkable)
Story ideas do not respect office hours. I keep a small notebook—or my Remarkable—with me at all times. I jot down:

• Plot ideas
• Snippets of dialogue
• Solutions to story problems that hit while I’m grocery shopping
• Chapter beats
• Emotional arcs
  
  

Writing “to text” on the Remarkable is a wonderful bridge between handwriting and digital drafting. It’s imperfect, but it lets me capture material anywhere—tennis games, waiting on the kid’s bus, lunch breaks, or those late evenings when inspiration refuses to wait for morning.

4. Morning Coffee = Morning Pages
My most peaceful writing moments happen in the early hours, mug of coffee in hand, while the house is still quiet.

Some days I write for 20 minutes. Some days an hour. Some days I only outline or think through a character problem. But the ritual grounds me and keeps the creative door open even on the busiest weeks.

5. Use AI to Clean Up Your Time-Saving Drafts
Here’s a confession: dictation and handwriting-to-text are messy. Wildly messy. For years, I spent enormous amounts of time tidying punctuation, fixing dialogue formatting, re-segmenting paragraphs, and translating garbled phrases generated by voice-to-text.

But now?

I let AI handle the cleanup.

I’ll paste in my raw dictation and tell ChatGPT: “Fix grammar only. Clean punctuation. Keep my voice. Do not change content.”

And it does—beautifully. It saves me about 90% of the editing work I used to sink into cleanup. That time goes back into actual writing, which means more books, more creative energy, and far less frustration.

6. A Few More Tips (Use What Fits Your Life)

• Chunk your outline into small, writable bites. When you know the next beat, you can steal 10–15 minutes anywhere.
• Don’t fear imperfect drafts. Perfection kills momentum; momentum writes books.
• Celebrate micro-progress. 200 words? Great. A solved plot problem? Even better. Creativity builds in layers.
• Use deadlines as anchors, not shackles. A gentle schedule helps maintain momentum without adding stress.
  
  

You Can Do This

Being a part-time writer doesn’t mean you’re less of a writer. It means you’re building stories in the margins of a big, complicated, beautiful life. If I can do it—between clinic days, parenting, travel, and everything else—you can too.

From one busy writer to another: Your words matter, your stories matter, and your time—however fragmented—is enough. Keep going. I’m cheering you on.

P.S. I must also give credit to my supportive husband who cooks. We share responsibilities with the kids. That divided work is the reason I have 30 books instead of 15. But anyone can increase their word count and efficiency with these tips to be a productive part-time writer.

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