Know the difference between actually being productive and the illusion of productivity, especially when you're online.
Know the difference between actually being productive and the illusion of productivity, especially when you're online.
Those of you who have no trouble saying no can just skip the rest of this post.
Some of you, however, may be like me. I like making people happy and don't like disappointing them. I also dislike conflict. So when people ask me for things, I used to usually say yes....even when I knew I'd probably regret it later.
I'm gradually learning how to say no.
While it's true that saying yes to one "just have a quick favor to ask, would appreciate just a few minutes of your time" is no problem, saying yes to a LOT of these favors accumulates. And in my experience, "just a few minutes" inevitably turns into hours or sometimes days.
What's hardest: saying no to projects that DO sound like a lot of fun and that I want to do. One of my challenges (and I suspect some of you feel similarly): I want to do EVERYTHING.
By saying no more often, however, I'm able to focus and enjoy the projects I say "yes" to more fully AND have more flexibility about when I do take on a new project.
A tip for aspiring children's book writers and illustrators: Try not to let yourself get sucked into too much fussing over preparation and ritual. Make a routine and then stick to it.
Now to follow my own advice...
I continue to be in awe of you parents out there who manage to carve out time for your writing in the midst of taking care of children, household chores and (in some cases) a day job as well.
At a recent conference, several working parents told me how they were still struggling to find the time to write and illustrate.
Having no children myself, I can't offer practical advice, but here are some online resources which might help. If you can offer tips from your own experience or know of other other helpful resources, please do post them in the comments below. Thanks!
Finding Time To Write - Parents' Version - by Julie Duffy on StoryADay.org. Main tips: coordinate your work sessions with your kids' energy levels, work to an outline, stretch sessions when you can, sit where you can hear your kids, be willing to stop after 2-3 sessions.
Finding Time To Draw - On Step, Skip, Pause. Main tips: Work in the early morning before everyone else is up. Sketch while watching tv, while waiting, on the public transport, at friends' houses, in short snatched moments, at concerts and plays.
Writing and mother: how I (sort of) do both - Shannon Hale explains how she does it. Main tips: Enlist help, constantly reevaluate your balance, set priorities, take a day of rest, commit fully, separate writing from publishing.
Busy Moms Write - A blog by Marcia Fowler, who is a mom of two boys, a freelance writer, and a certified elementary school teacher and reading specialist. "Busy Moms Write is a blog to inspire other moms to finally sit down and write, even if it’s only for five minutes a day."
11 Ways Stay-At-Home Moms (and Other Busy Folks) Can Find Time To Write - by K.M. Weiland. Be stubborn and endure, find your focus, connect with family every day, remember there are others in your boat, take your work seriously, it's never too late to start, be realistic in your goals, give up on the idea of trying to please everyone, enjoy your blossing career guilt-free, being a mom and writer are not mutually exclusive.
How Busy Writers Can Stay Productive & Keep Their Sanity - by Jeff Goins. Give up the ideal workspace, don't sacrifice your family, use the "write, edit, write" method (longer pieces) and self-edit method (shorter pieces), know your limits, stay positive and grateful.
A Parent's Time To Write - by Liz Boltz Ranfeld
How To Find Time When You're A Busy Mom - on WikiHow
I used to set ambitious New Year's goals every year ("I'm going to write 2000 words a day, every day!") but then get discouraged when I inevitably realized that, once again, I had set a goal or goals that were unrealistic. Or that had originally realistic but then got put on the back burner because of circumstances out of my control that had to take higher priority.
This year, I'm taking a different approach. While I am going to set some realistic work-related goals (to be posted on the MiG Writers blog) which I have tried hard to make realistic, I'm also going to work toward an overall goal:
Make more time to read and create books.
It's so easy to say, "I wish I had more time to xxxx" but the truth is that it's up to me to MAKE more time for what's important to me.
One of my tendencies is to want to do everything. I want to write (and illustrate!) more picture books. I want to work on my new MG and YA novel projects, because I know my writing and knowledge of the industry has improved over the years and I'm much confident about getting these newer book projects published. I have some fun nonfiction book ideas for grown-ups that I want to turn into book proposals so I can start pitching them. I'm thinking of self-publishing a compilation of my writing comics, but I also know that self-publishing requires a lot more admin/promo/marketing time. I want to keep all my webcomics updated but know I have way too many webcomics to keep updated. I want to improve my German language skills before Jeff and I attend Essen in late 2013. I want to improve my French language skills before Jeff and I visit French-speaking friends in late 2013. I want to write a new song for my music group to perform in our concert at FilKONtario. I want to reorg my home office. I want to learn more about non-digital art techniques like ink and watercolour, acrylics and multimedia textural art. I want to turn some of my cartoons and daily doodles into greeting cards. I want to help beef up content in my various collab group blogs. I want to improve my Photoshop skills and also go through Lynda.com tutorials on various creative software packages I've purchased in the last year. I want to write more songs.
I could go on and on and on. Clearly, I can't do all the above. I need to let go of many of these goals, else I know I'm going to end up not attempting any of them very well. So again, I've decided to focus on the following:
Make more time to read and create books.
Throughout this coming year, in addition to my regular Inkygirl.com posts, I'm going to be sharing my experience in trying to make more time to read and create books.
My first steps:
1. Managing my email more efficiently.
2. Being more aware of how much time I'm spending on social media.
I'll report back on both of these first steps in upcoming Inkygirl posts, so stay tuned. :-)
Ok, I gave up on the idea of staying offline in the mornings.
Reason: Because of my Market Watch column for Writersmarket.com, I need to surf the Web for publishing industry info each morning. I tried to make notes of stuff that would be good tweet and blog post material later in the day, but found that the info always seemed stale later on, plus distracted me from whatever else I was working on.
For me, it makes sense to do the info sharing while I'm online doing the research; I'm just being more careful about how long I spend doing this. Right now, I'm keeping a detailed time log about how I spend my time each day. I don't plan to do this indefinitely, but it's certainly helping me see where and how I spend my time.
My new plan: To stay completely offline from noon until 3 pm. Thanks to those of you who suggested Freedom, a Mac productivity app that cuts you off from the Internet for scheduled amount of time. The only way to re-enable Internet access is to force-quit the app or reboot. How are the rest of you doing with your productivity goals?
When I first saw the word "takeaways" in people's conference reports, I was confused. What were takeaways? Were they giving out free food?!? I was even MORE disappointed that I had missed the event!
But no, takeaways are key messages you've learned at a conference. They can vary from person to person, depending on their own situations and experiences.
I'll be posting more details about my takeaways from various panels and workshops, but overall my main takeaways were:
1. What's most important: STORY and CHARACTERS. Some panelists listed both while others just listed story, but the message was the same. It doesn't matter what format a book is in if the story sucks. Voice and style can help make good writing, but aren't nearly as important as having a story and characters that the reader cares about.
2. Do the work. Get it written. Don't get too obsessed with the process, or networking and promoting, or all the other extras that can be good but NOT if they're keeping you from doing the work. This is something that has really hit home for me, which is why I'll probably be easing back somewhat from social media. (Ok, I'll still be posting a lot compared to some people, but it'll be easing back for me!)
Both of these apply to both writers AND illustrators -- I'll be interpreting the takeaways from an illustrators' point of view and posting them in the SCBWI Illustrators' Mentees Blog soon.
Though I've gotten better over the years, I still struggle with this one word. Seems (at first, at least) much easier to say yes. I'm talking about the small favors that people ask you to do, the ones that you're sure will only take a few minutes of your time. The most insidious: the favors that you know would be fun to do, or the ones that are almost work-related.
Be wary of saying yes to too many of these. Inevitably, they'll add up until WHOA, suddenly you find yourself spending more time on these quickie favors for other people than you are on your own work.
Stay focused on your goals. Prioritize.
Learn how to say no politely but firmly without feeling guilty.
To clarify (because I'm already anticipating at least one person piping up and righteously saying that she's GLAD to want to say yes to those asking for help): I'm not saying you should ALWAYS say no...just be selective and be realistic. And be able to say no when you need to.
I find reading about other people's work habits inspiring. The Kite Runner author Khaled Hosseini, for example, typically gets up at 4 a.m. Has some coffee and breakfast, reads the paper, then writes for 2-3 hours before going to his other job. He says that reading a few lines from a favourite novel before he gets started helps him get into the flow of things.
Read more in this Red Room profile.
YA author Laurie Halse Anderson has a post that everyone should read. I'm serious. If you haven't already, please go read it RIGHT NOW:
Laurie Halse Anderson: Your Time Is Your Currency
I dare you to read this and NOT be super-inspired.
Apologies for the sporadic schedule of my blog posts lately. I'm finding it much easier to post regularly in my inkyelbows Twitter account, if you're interested in writing tweets...I usually post there at least several times a day.
Since the SCBWI Summer Conference, I've been approached by a number of publishers interested in my illustrations and/or writing. While it's wonderful to have the attention after years of trying to get publishers to notice me, I'm now scrambling to get my projects finished so I have something to send.
Which brings me to time management. There's a fine balance between working on building up a strong author platform and not spending enough time creating the content for that platform to support. But where do you draw the line? I'm still figuring that out myself.
Meanwhile, however, I'm about to send off one mss today (yay!) and aiming to finish a nonfiction book proposal to send out by the end of next week.
What about the rest of you? How do you balance social networking and blogging with your writing time?