As a lifelong procrastinator, it has taken me a while to write this blog. Do you know what the hardest part was? Just actually, properly starting.

Often I tell myself that creative tasks will take too long, or I’m too tired, or I’m too busy – and, yes, sometimes those things are genuinely true. But more often than not I am just fooling myself, finding any excuse to avoid the horror of a blank page.

Despite being a freelance illustrator, I struggle to regularly draw from life, which is a necessary skill for observation, developing stories, and experimenting with materials. And it’s something I genuinely love doing. I never regret picking up my sketchbook and I love the simple, meditative joy of drawing what’s in front of me. Like going to the gym, I notice improvement with regular practice. The problem is, I just never find the time…

… unless I trick myself.

I promise myself I will do just five minutes of drawing every day. Just five minutes. A minuscule amount of time (especially compared to my screen time stats and the eternal line at the Post Office). Even on my most tired or busy days, I can find five minutes, somewhere, to make something. And at the end of those five minutes I will have either gained enough momentum to continue for longer, or I will have done enough to say “at least I tried today”. It’s a win-win.

And sometimes, on those especially busy days, full of meetings and deadlines and other commitments, I have to get creative with creativity. I mark out times in my schedule where I can multitask, bringing my sketchbook to social or cultural events: cafes, museums, gigs, Ignite.

In fact, Ignite socials make the perfect drawing opportunity. The audience sits relatively still, the lighting is bright enough to see but dark enough to hide my sketchbook, and there’s usually some good fashion amongst creative types. And as an added bonus, drawing helps me remember events more clearly. Keeping my hands occupied lets me focus on the speaker’s words and I have a pen ready in case I want to take some notes. If anyone happens to spot it, the drawing can become a talking point, or it can even become content for a blog post.

So, if you spot me lurking at the back of Patch with a sketchbook in hand, please consider this an open invitation to join me in some drawing. Even if it’s only for five minutes.

Hayley Wells is a Chelmsford-based illustrator with an MA in Children’s Book Illustration from Cambridge School of Art. Their work has been shortlisted for the World Illustration Awards, published worldwide, and featured on television. They are currently part of the Artists at the Meadows collective where they run a free monthly zine club.