Staying Organized and Motivated During Difficult Times: Lessons from Writing Through Crisis

Guest blog by Kirsten W. Larson

​The idea for my latest book, This Is How You Know: How Science Happens (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2025), illustrated by Cornelia Li, a lyrical love letter to science, emerged during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. To say that Spring 2020 was a difficult time to maintain creativity is an understatement. We were in lockdown, and my entire family was home. My kids loved nothing more than to spend breaks between classes hanging out in my office. It was lovely, but disruptive to getting any writing done. And then there was the news. It was so difficult to stop doom scrolling and actually write. What did I have to offer the world in the face of such tragedy?

Yet somehow, books got written during those chaotic times – including mine. If you’re facing your own difficult season right now, whether it’s personal challenges, political and economic uncertainty, or just “life,” some of the techniques I honed during the pandemic just might help you stay on track. 

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​Create Boundaries Around Your Creative Work Time
When I started writing in 2012, my kids had naptime – an hour, maybe two in the afternoon if I was lucky. To get any writing done, I learned to shut down all distractions – email, social media, etc. and concentrate solely on getting words on the page. I prioritized whatever magazine article or book I was actively writing, not watching craft webinars or writing blog posts or anything else that could be done with partial attention at other times.

In the intervening years, I have become a full-time freelancer and writer, who could write whenever she wanted. But in early 2020, I quickly realized, if I was going to get anything done, it had to be before the rest of the family woke up. I was going to have to pretend like it was naptime and focus relentlessly.

Your creative work block doesn’t have to be first thing in the morning. But, it’s critical to identify your peak creative hours and treat them as non-negotiable. During these protected periods, eliminate digital distractions entirely as best you can. Yes, if you have children or aging parents, you may have to respond to texts or urgent phone calls. But, if you can, silence your notifications. Close out your email. Resist the news, TikTok, and Instagram. Consider using social media blocking tools like Freedom or Forest or removing social media apps from your phone to remove temptation during work sessions.

The key is recognizing that our devices are designed to capture and fragment our attention. Even a quick check of messages can derail creative momentum for twenty minutes or more. You can read more about this in Deep Work (Grand Central Publishing, 2016) by Cal Newport. By creating technology-free zones around your most important work, you’re not just protecting time, you're protecting the “deep work” necessary to write.

​Harness the Power of Accountability Partners
I have had an accountability partner, fellow KidLit author Marcie Colleen, for about eight years. She’s my secret weapon. During COVID-19, our accountability relationship became even more important for getting the work done.

Every morning, which is when we schedule our creative work, Marcie and I text each other at 5:30 a.m. to check in. In that text, we each set a goal for our work time, which runs from 5:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. It could be a chapter in a novel, 1,000 words, a comic outline, or revising a picture book draft. We aim to be as specific and measurable with our goals as we can. And then, at 7 a.m. we check on progress toward the goal. Knowing I will report to Marcie keeps me focused and on task instead of checking email or scrolling the news.

There are different ways to structure these partnerships. Some accountability partners have write-ins, either in person or over Zoom, which forces members to be “butt in chair” and just write. Others trade email goals and check ins or do it via social media (though be careful with the latter, so you don’t end up distracted). And, of course, your creative work time should be whatever works best for you and your partner.

Look for accountability partners within your existing writing communities like classes, critique groups, or online communities. Marcie and I met through the 12x12 Picture Book Writing community and became critique partners before we became accountability partners.
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The Daily “To Do”: Make Invisible Work Visible
I’m a big “to do” list person. My daily calendar and “to do” list have always contained a mix of both work and family “to dos,” including scheduling kids’ doctors’ appointments, carpool runs, or grocery shopping. I am a big advocate for putting both household and personal tasks on your list. This might seem obvious, but many creative people fail to account for the time and energy these responsibilities require. Childcare, exercise, oil changes, and fixing the leaky sink aren’t just things that happen in the background, they’re real time commitments that limit our availability for other work.
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By making this invisible work visible on my to-do list, I can plan my creative time more realistically. I also get a motivational boost from checking off these essential tasks, rather than feeling like they’re just draining time from my “real” work. 
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Tackling To-Do Lists
I keep both monthly and daily to-do lists in my writer’s notebook. The monthly master list serves as a brain dump. It includes my creative project(s) at the top, other work tasks that must be completed that month (critiques, newsletters, teaching, etc.) but also any major household tasks and items I need to help my kids manage (like college applications). The list takes up two pages in my notebook. It’s huge. However, if I looked at it every day, I would be paralyzed.

Instead, each day, I select about three work “have to dos” (the top priority being my primary creative project) and three home “have to dos” (one of which is exercise). Then I can add up to three “nice to dos” total from my work and home lists.

I’m careful not to overload any single day. If I put more than about five things down for work on any one day, I start to feel stressed, mostly because I worry I can’t get it all done. This approach for including both work and home tasks and limiting them comes from Catherine Price’s wisdom in The Power of Fun (Dial Press, 2021).
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​Embrace Flexibility Within Structure
The final lesson from writing through crisis is the importance of flexibility. Sometimes life gets complicated. Kids get sick (or we get sick) and need to regroup. We move. A pipe bursts. That’s ok. We have to “nurture our inner artist” as Julia Cameron says in The Artist’s Way (Tarcher, 2016). That may mean stepping back sometimes to fill ourselves up, but always trying to stay in touch with our work, even if it’s just 15 minutes of journaling or brainstorming ideas for your novel.
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The Long View
Writing This Is How You Know during the pandemic reminded me that sometimes our most meaningful work emerges during difficult periods. Protecting your creative time, using an accountability partner, and crafting realistic “to do” lists can help. I hope these small steps will help you get your words on the page too.

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Kirsten W. Larson used to work with rocket scientists at NASA, but now writes books for curious kids. She is the acclaimed author of over 30 nonfiction books for young readers, including The Fire of Stars (Chronicle Books, 2023), an NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor book, as well as the craft book Reimagining Your Nonfiction Picture Book: A step-by-step revision guide (Both/And, 2023),  praised as “a must-have for every nonfiction picture book writer’s bookshelf.” You can also find her hosting the Nonfiction Kidlit Craft Conversations podcast, which takes a deep dive into the craft and business of children’s nonfiction.

Connect on Instagram: @kirstenwlarson
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kirstenwlarson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KirstenLarsonWrites
Web: Kirstenwlarson.com

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