Interstitial writing is the practice of using small bits of time to write. You may be wondering how this is different from interstitial journaling. I use the term to distinguish between a specific type of writing, journaling, and more general writing. When I use the term interstitial writing, I typically use it to mean what I will call productive writing, similar to what many people mean when they refer to writing content. Writing for some external sharing or publishing or Zettelkasten or evergreen thought garden and the like is the type of writing I mean. I think of journaling as primarily for oneself; any other kind of writing meant for others is productive, even if its source is a journal item.

The technique is identical to that of interstitial journaling. Use small increments of time throughout the day to write. Instead of writing whatever you feel or think, as with journaling, focus on crafting writing that needs thorough consideration, revision, editing, refinement, etc. I usually use increments of 15-25 minutes for interstitial writing. Breaks are often spent moving around, eating a light snack, or spending time in meditation or prayer.

By scheduling these increments thoughtfully throughout the day, I can produce a surprising (to me at least) amount of valuable writing content. Every day I work on writing things like essays, papers, research, Zettels, ideas, outlines, book chapters, and more. This practice allows me to do this, and it works with my ADHD instead of being hindered by it.