A Case for Writing on Your Phone
By: Laura Winter
Tags: Writers On Writing, Writing, Creativity, Writing Tips, Productivity

A Case for Writing on Your Phone

Turn your mobile distraction device into a productive writing resource

Photo by Chad Madden on Unsplash

How often do you use that little rectangle in your pocket for distractions? Scrolling social media, staying up to date with friends, wasting time while you’re waiting in line… We now live in an age where our phones satisfy that ‘boredom’ twitch. It fills the empty space between moments in our lives.

But it can provide a lot more than just a distraction from boredom (this is not the article where I make a case for embracing boredom).

Have you ever been out in public and been struck with the next greatest novel idea only to find that you have no notebook within reach? Or maybe you’re standing in line and only have a few seconds. What about when you’re on your dog walk in the morning and aren’t carrying writing supplies?

As much negative impact we claim that our phones create for us, they also provide us with a wonderful resource to improve our writing productivity. Why aren’t we taking advantage of our endless connectivity to produce something wonderful or improve our skills?

There are so many ways our phone can help us stay productive and improve our writing. Here are some ways you can set your phone up to stay writing and learning, even when you aren’t near a keyboard.

Listen to podcasts / audiobooks

Writing isn’t always about writing. In fact, many authors would argue it’s equally important to be reading and learning in addition to writing. Podcasts and audiobooks are right at your fingertips, providing you with free resources to improve your craft and learn from the best.

There are plenty of podcasts that cover the business, process, and even behind the scenes of writing. Look up interview podcasts and learn from veterans. Find a podcast that teaches you the business of writing and how to be successful. Find inspiration within a serial fiction podcast that teaches you storytelling.

On top of that, audiobooks are a great way to learn the craft and even study the storytelling techniques of experts. Libraries are adopting online catalogs between ebooks and audiobooks, which provide the perfect reason to grab a library card. Download audiobooks and take them wherever you go, whether you study via non-fiction or immerse yourself in the storytelling adventure of your favorite authors.

Learn to dictate

As crazy as it might feel to walk around speaking into your phone without talking to anyone, we’re writers in the end. We’re already crazy.

Dictation might feel foreign to you, but it’s a great way to increase your word count without much effort on your part. If you’re walking the dog or doing chores around the house, you might not be able to write things down. Dictation solves all of your problems. Even if you don’t have an app that transcribes your words, recording them and transcribing it later is a great way to improve your skills. Now, whenever you have that strike of inspiration or solve your plot hole and you’re not near your writing document, you can make a note.

Talking out your scenes is also a great opportunity to find your way through a blockage. If you don’t have a sounding board for new ideas or a way to work through tough scenes, dictation and talking through the possibilities can help you work out your problems.

Find small, wasted moments

Especially during NaNoWriMo, writers are constantly searching for time in their day to get the words written. Think about the small, wasted moments that could be better served writing and find a way to incorporate writing into them. Are you bored and wanting to scroll social media? Write in your notes app instead. Standing in line at the grocery store waiting to check out? Write a few sentences. Sitting at a restaurant waiting for your food? You guessed it. Little moments like that might not feel like they are very productive, but small bits do add up over time.

Break a sweat

This is by far my favorite writing habit — writing while working out. In 2018, I wrote about 8K words of my NaNo novel while sitting on the exercise bike and typing away at my phone. I didn’t quite have the guts to dictate my novel then, and also there were people around, but this year I’m looking forward to dictating while I’m in the privacy of my living room and spinning away. Not only are you getting a workout and staying healthy, you’re also getting those words in. Whether you’re doing NaNo or not, that’s a great chance to have thirty minutes of uninterrupted writing time.

Utilize commute times

When I was driving an hour to and from work every day, I could have passed that as wasted time that I’d never get back. Instead, I used that time to either listen to podcasts or work through novels via dictation. Commute times take up a lot of our work week, and there’s no rules against turning them into productive writing sprints. Figure out how you can best use that time, either by learning or writing, and use that to your advantage.