Books

Just 20 minutes a day can go a surprisingly long way.

But before all that, she wrote her first book while juggling a full-time job.

Bustle caught up with Bartz to learn how she made it all work.

What were you doing when you decided Im going to write a novel?

Or, at least, Im going to attempt to write a novel?

Id seen friends write and sell novels, and that was sort of what made it feel possible.

I started writingThe Lost Nightduring NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).

Its a long-standing annual challenge that people sign up for all over the world.

You all commit to writing 50,000 words in a month about 1,700 words per day.

A writer friend of mine knew that I had a book idea I hadnt started working on.

She was like, Why dont we do NaNoWriMo together?

We can even make it a contest to see who can write more this month.

And the contest part was motivating.

How did you carve out space in your day?

Something that was really helpful for me wasthe Pomodoro method that is, working uninterrupted for 20 minutes.

And then when the timer goes off, a five-minute break, and then repeat that if need be.

Did you always write at the same time each day?

Im not a morning person.

And then I could come home and just bang it out.

Did you meet your NaNoWriMo goal?

I wrote basically half of the first draft in that month.

And then by the end of the month, I felt like well,sunk cost fallacy.

Ive come this far I have no choice but to finish it now.

Meaning you didnt know writing that first draft was only Step 1 in the lengthy publishing process?

Which is probably for the best.

It would have been discouraging to know how much work was left to do.

During NaNoWriMo when I was trying to be super disciplined I had these very high daily word count goals.

But I also would just tell people I was working on a book, and people respected that.

But I think announcing it to your community gives you accountability, and it also gives you encouragement.

People will be cheering you on.

My friends were so understanding, and, for me, that was really motivating.

How did you stay motivated?

Its about finding these little pockets of time.

I kept committing to, Lets at least get 20 minutes of writing in during the evening.

Id get in a groove, and I wouldnt put it aside for weeks at a time.

That really helped me live in the world of the book and keep chipping away at it.

Any tips for overcoming self-doubt?

Im a career journalist.

Its like the worlds biggest on-spec assignment.

You have to detach yourself from those questions of Will this sell?

Will this genre no longer be in vogue?

Will people hate this topic?

I absolutely had all of those fears.

But it was like just keep swimming.

I just kept writing, and that was the only way to quiet those fears.

This article was originally published onAug.