By Nick Cross



A month ago, I wrote the following on the wall of our top-secret Notes from the Slushpile hideout:

In the last week, I have:

• Attended two book launches
• Edited a 1500 word story down to 1000 words for the next issue of Stew Magazine
• Formatted and scheduled next week's Alphabet Soup article and started work on the week after
• Commissioned two more Alphabet Soup articles
• Written a Slushpile blog
• Worked full-time for 5 days

So why do I constantly feel like I'm not doing enough?

Why indeed? The Slushpile team were supportive in their replies (apart from Candy Gourlay who I trust was joking when she called me a lazy man!). But for me, the inherent problem lay in that final question. Why wasn't I satisfied with what I'd done, and what did I need to do to make sure that I was?

That led me to take a hard look at my own beliefs. For years, I believed that the more busy I was, the more I would get done. But what if that wasn't true? What if I could get better results and more satisfaction by doing less?
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On leaving school, my advisor reminded me to always take time to think. That seemed like a reasonable suggestion, as I trudged off to teach, write, and, of course, think. But the modern academy doesn’t share this value; faculty are increasingly prodded to “produce” more articles, more presentations, more grant applications, and more PhD students.

The post No time to think appeared first on OUPblog.

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Becca and I love you guys. We want to see you break barriers, build careers, and enjoy success after writing success. Supporting you is what we’re about and what we do. We enjoy helping however possible, encouraging each of you to grow and be awesome as only you can.

To do this well, sometimes we have to nudge. Push a little, even. But our hearts are in the right place, because there’s no point candy coating the work it takes to be a successful writer. It will require every drop of strength and persistence you have to keep moving forward in the face of obstacles, rejection and doubt. You will have to grow thick skin, thicker than you ever thought possible. You will have to wear the hat of a learner, because you will never know it all or reach a point of ‘good enough’ when it comes to writing. There will always be more craft to absorb, more skills to hone, more marketing and business challenges to overcome, more work needed to expand your career, year after year.

So in our tough-love yet encouraging fashion, Becca and I are starting the year with a challenge for you: steer your own ship. Make a plan. Treat your writing like the business it is.

And this isn’t hot air, I promise–we live what we preach. Since organizing ourselves and adopting a yearly business plan in 2012, we have accelerated our careers. Not only have we built multiple businesses, published books in 5 languages, created a one-of-a-kind writing library and grown Writers Helping Writers into a learning hub with a loyal following, we teach and speak professionally as writing coaches. It didn’t happen overnight, and it didn’t happen easily, but it happened.

And guess what? Neither one of us is special. We don’t have a magic 8-ball, or pet hamsters that shoot lasers out of their eyes while predicting the future. We’re just Angela and Becca, two writers who met in an online critique group.

What’s I’m saying is…if we can do this, you can too. So let’s get started.

Organize The Chaos

Most say writers write, but I think writers actually juggle. Yes, they do write, edit, and learn. But they also research the industry and their audience, build a brand, create a platform, handle marketing, promote, and run a business. And that, my friend, is juggling.

Trying to master all these aspects of a writing career is chaotic. There are countless books and articles to read on various subjects of writing, publishing and marketing, experts to heed, social media platforms to navigate, people to connect to and opportunities to take advantage of. And often what happens is the writer is pulled into so many directions at once, no real headway is made on bigger goals. Instead writing time is spent on a million mini tasks that seem valid at the time, but may not be.

In 2012, Becca and I found our time was being eaten by all the little things that come with running a larger site like Writers Helping Writers. Our days were spent neck deep in email, social networking, blog comments, and guest posting. And guess what wasn’t getting done? Writing. And well, that’s sort of the point, wouldn’t you say?

We knew we needed to organize ourselves and prioritize better. We wanted a way to measure each opportunity that came our way and make better decisions with our time. Luckily, my husband is a business management consultant, and he led us through the process of creating a business plan. The start was to assess where we were at, and define where we still needed to grow.

Ask Yourself The Tough Questions

In the business world, assessments are common. People are brought in to examine departments and processes, do risk assessments, and conduct 360° reviews on employees. A company needs to be efficient and functional to prosper, and a writer’s career is no different. So take a step back and look at where you are at. What areas did you focus on this past year, and what was your progress toward big goals? If you could do it all over, would you do it the same way, or organize your time differently?

Taking stock of where you are, and where you want to go is a great way to hone in on what to focus on in the coming year. If you can be honest about areas you are weaker in and what you must strengthen to position yourself better, you’ll save yourself heartache. For example, if your writing is really strong, you have a book you feel is marketable but you have no online presence whatsoever, spending more energy honing your craft isn’t the best use of your time. Instead, you might want to make getting yourself online, learning how to network and find ways to build relationships with your potential audience a primary focus. Yes, this might seem scary, but pushing out of your comfort zone will help you grow.

Likewise, if you are a Social Media queen but your writing skills are less-than-adequate, start boning up on your writing craft. Read, take classes and practice technique. A great platform will not sell a poorly written book.

Be a Planner, Not a Pantser

Lots of writers like to “pants” it. A little, a lot, maybe the whole book is written on the fly, a joy ride from start to finish. What will the main character do? Where will he go? How will the book end? Who knows—that’s all part of the fun.

And pantsing might work great…in fiction. But in business, pantsing will hurt you, or perhaps better said, will hurt your potential. Because while you’re flying along, researching weather patterns for a new story idea you have here, increasing your twitter following there, and flirting with a group promotion or two when invites roll in…you are missing the forest for the trees. Rather than take confident strides toward achieving specific goals to help you leap forward, you’re taking half-steps in too many directions and hardly getting anywhere.

Like Becca and I did, you might need some structure. A road map, a way to determine what areas are the most important to work on, what goals should be the focus, and the timeline needed for each. You won’t believe how well this will help keep you on track, and just how much more you’ll get done in a year.

I realize for many, the words, “business plan” probably sounds intimidating, but it really is so simple—7 steps will get you there. In fact, I wrote a post about the process at Jane Friedman’s blog, so please, check it out. Everything you need is there—the steps, a template, and even an example of one of our old business plans. (Take advantage of some free professional business consulting!)

You love what you do, and you work hard every day, I know it. You are capable of so much, so challenge yourself! Make 2016 your year.

Happy writing and business-planning,

Angela

 

 

Image1: geralt @ Pixabay

Image2:McLac2000 @ Pixabay

Image3: JosephKah @pixabay

Image4: Alexas_fotos@pixabay

The post Is 2016 Your Year? Make A Writing Plan And Take Out The Guesswork appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS™.

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I often hear people say that there’s not enough time to do anything — to finish that creative project, that book, or that art piece. And it’s often true especially for those of us who have regular jobs and must provide for our families. I do my 8 to 5 work day, get home, do some chores, and when everything […]

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In 2009, I started researching and experimenting with ways to work less and earn more with my writing. I started out by vowing to work only two days per week.

It worked — and I’ll tell you how in a bit.

Since 2009, my schedule has settled to 30 hours per week or less; more than before because now my son is in school all day, and I really do love what I do and find it hard to keep myself from writing. These days, I generally work from 9-2:30 daily, and often take Fridays off if I can.

And during it all, my freelancing income has gone up by 30%.

Want to know how I did it? Let’s start in 2009.

How I Cut My Work Hours & Still Kept Earning

My goal, when I started the two-day workweek in 2009, was to spend more time with my one-year-old son, have more fun, and do more volunteering. On my days off I would check e-mail just to make sure nothing came up, and if a source could schedule an interview only on one of my days off, I’d do it. But most weeks, I sat down at my desk and worked two days per week.

The first thing I did to cut my hours was quit a time-suck writer’s forum. I could spend hours on there every day because there were so many members that every time I clicked, there was a new message. One day I posted a question about freelancing, and was treated to snarky responses about how I should already know the answer.

Right then, I decided to quit. I had my husband change my password and promise not to reveal it to me. For a couple of days my fingers kept twitching towards the keys that would bring up the forum, but then the urge subsided.

Then, on a roll, I found a free site-blocker app and blocked the other sites I spent a lot of time on, like iCanHasCheezburger.com and Failblog.

Suddenly, I had a ton of free time.

I soon came to realize that a lot of what we freelancers do is busy work. For example, I was in the habit of sending out e-mails to sources or editors in the morning, and then spending the rest of the day alternately clicking on “check e-mail” and surfing the web. Then, at 5, I felt that I’d put in a full day’s work, even though I really only worked for a few minutes and then spent the rest of the day waiting for people to get back to me.

So I stopped doing that. If I sent out e-mails and couldn’t take action until I got a response, I would shut my laptop, go off and do what I wanted to do, and come back later to check. Exact same results, but much less time “working.”

One week I felt stressed about all I had to do: I had several writing assignments on the go and was insistent on working three days that week at the most to get it all done. I asked my life coach for tips, and she said that many of her clients feel they have too much to do, but then when they sit down and actually calculate the hours — or actually do the work — they realize it’s not so much after all. They had just built it up in their minds.

So my goal buddy and I set up what we called a “boot camp” day on one of my work days that week. On boot camp days, my Jennifer and I called each other every hour on the hour to tell each other what we did in the last hour and what we planned to do in the next hour. There were no repercussions if we don’t get the work done, but there’s something about telling someone else what you plan to do that lights a fire under your butt.

And guess what? That day, I got all the work I had been worrying about done in four hours. I didn’t even have to work that third day.

You CAN Set Your Own Hours

Those were some very, very valuable lessons, and after so many years of freelancing, I’ve really realized the full power of the freelance lifestyle — the power to set your own hours and be the master of your own time.

The eight-hour workday is so ingrained in us that it’s hard to envision working less and still earning the same income — but as Tim Ferriss said in The Four-Hour Workweek, isn’t it amazing that all over the world, no matter what job they do, every person needs exactly eight hours a day to get their work done?

We freelancers are not in jobs where we have to be present all the time, like in retail. We can “disappear” and, using the power of technology, still be reachable if a client has an emergency (which they rarely do).

Granted, when I started cutting my hours in 2009 I had already been freelancing for 12 years, so I was past the stage where I had to spend hours each week formulating ideas and pitching. I was in many magazines’ “stables” of writers, so it was easier for me to cut down my hours than it would be for someone just starting out.

But even new writers can probably use their time more efficiently. C’mon, fess up — when you should be writing a query or building your website or working on a book chapter, are you 100% focused on that task or are you taking frequent web-surfing breaks? Do you bang out that pitch or do you procrastinate, yet still feel “busy” because you’re sitting in front of your computer?

Do MORE of What You Love

So what did I do with all this extra time in 2009? Well, I started a local parents’ group that ended up with over 100 members, so I spent a lot of time hanging out with other parents and their babies. I read — a lot. I upped my weight training from two days per week to three. And I did more volunteering for animal welfare causes.

Isn’t that why so many of us decide to go freelance — so we can control our workloads and our hours, and have more time to spend on our families, hobbies, and causes?

Every day I have to pinch myself — I can’t believe that so many years later, I’m still working reduced hours and earning more than ever. I keep thinking that one day, my husband is going to say, “Uh, Linda…we’re broke.” But it hasn’t happened. I’m going to keep up this schedule as long as I can…and the more I do it, the easier it gets.

Your challenge today: Want to work less and earn more as a freelance writer? Find your top five time-wasting activities and find ways to ditch or delegate them.

This post originally ran in 2010 and has been updated to be more helpful to you.

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It is hard to believe, but One Stop For Writers is only a month away from release! As such, I thought I’d tackle the team aspect of getting a giant project off the ground, seeing as we had a great post recently on how authors can collaborate on writing a novel. Many of the same factors are at work, regardless of the project.

Understanding and respecting each person’s skill set, communication style and expertise is really critical for working together, because no one person can do it all when it comes to a big project. (Or if they can, quality and efficiency is sacrificed.) So for us, we needed to suss out who was good at what, and learn to trust judgement, let go of ownership, and support one another as we all took on different roles.

COMMUNICATION

Becca and I already work together well, which is a real blessing. But it also created some challenges, because we are used to communicating and doing things a certain way. When you add a third to the mix, some of these methods and styles don’t fit, and so a person has to be willing to adapt. Case in point: Becca and I communicate a lot, discussing everything upfront so we problem solve and make sure we’re on the same page. However, too much communication creates a lot of extra reading for Lee, who is task-focused. So we needed to learn how to be more economical so we didn’t drown him in email.

LEARNING FLEXIBILITY

Because Becca and I plan extensively, once we decide on a path, we usually stick to it. This has worked very well with our books and joint business planning, but with software, we quickly saw adaptability is just as important, especially when you are working with a creative-focused developer. Lee would come up with functionality ideas that would trigger more content ideas from us, and we would have to adjust the plan. This led to some great new implementations.

However it created the challenge of sticking to our timeline and core tasks. Eventually we had to turn off the idea tap and stick to what we had in the works, saving other ideas for later updates. As a result, we also had to push out our timeline (a good thing, as the first one was far too optimistic, and impossible to meet).

BATTLE PLANS: ASSIGNING GENERALS

Dividing and conquering became ultra important. Lee, naturally, took on everything technical, both from a software build perspective as well as a technical operations standpoint. He researched and set up our commerce system, interfaced with the site designer and set up the communication system within One Stop. He also is working with the beta testers to test and fix everything that comes up, another huge part of any software build. (And speaking of, thank you beta testers–we love you so much!)

Becca (bless her) took on the business end of things, namely getting all the paperwork in order to form a new company where the parties all lived in different countries (not easy!), working with a lawyer to create contracts and file for trademarks, she set up bank accounts, and handles our accounting. All this in addition to creating new entries, adapting and formatting old ones, and doing the final pass editing for the site (a HUGE job).

I focused on new content generation, building most of the tools and generators, helped to expand old content and write page content, create auto communications, and handled anything marketing and promotion that wasn’t technical in nature, including building and managing social media platforms, newsletters, launch planning and crowd sourcing.

WORKING TOGETHER ON A SCHEDULE

We filled in to help one another as well so we could meet individual deadlines or assist during busier times. Becca took on managing the explainer video we’re having built, and Lee is taking on the tutorial video, two very important pieces of the puzzle. And we all collaborated to get our branding in place.

One of the big challenges for our collaboration is time zones. Becca (in Florida USA), is two hours ahead of me (in Alberta, Canada) which isn’t too bad, but Lee (in Sydney, Australia) is a whopping sixteen hours ahead. When we needed to all discuss something using Skype, we only had a small window to do so. Sometimes decisions and feedback would suffer delays. Becca and I both tried to adjust our working hours a bit to include evenings so we could work though things in real time with Lee.

FINDING A HUB: HAVE YOU HEARD OF FREEDCAMP?

Luckily as well, Lee set us up with a site called Freedcamp, which became our hub for communication, file sharing and collaboration. It’s a great site for projects like these, allowing for you to set milestones and tasks with due dates assigned to specific people. I highly recommend it if you need a home base for group projects!

All in all, I am thrilled at how well we work together. Our personality traits seem to bring out the best in each other, and create a check and balance system. Once again, I feel like the universe seems to be on our side, and the synergy between Lee, Becca and I makes us all very excited for whatever the future holds.

If you have any questions about how to collaborate with your own team, I am happy to answer them!

Image #2: 742680 @ Pixabay

Image #3 Geralt @ Pixabay

The post One Stop Adventures: Learning To Collaborate As A Team appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS™.

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The post Mastering Words: Ways to Evolve as a Writer appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS™.

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Last Friday in my weekly goals and objectives post, I wrote about planning to submit a manuscript to a journal that is only open for submissions for part of each month. It opens on the 1st and closes when it reaches 200 submissions. That's the number of submissions the staff feels it can deal with in a month.

As it turned out, yesterday was the 1st. So I planned to submit yesterday or today. I was on the road most of yesterday, worked on completing the revision of a chapter today, and when I went to submit the manuscript in question, maybe ten minutes ago, the journal was already closed to submissions. It reached it's 200 mark in less than 48 hours.

Clearly I should have rearranged my time and tried submitting this morning. Or last night after getting back from a day trip. Or yesterday morning before I got on the road at 8:30.

I did not schedule my time correctly. And, you know, I did have a feeling I wouldn't have more than a couple of days to do this.

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There’s a great quote at BufferSocial, “Social media shouldn’t be a time waster. It should be a money maker.” I absolutely love this quote. If you’re like me, you spend time and effort keeping up with your social media channels. Post to Twitter. Post to GooglePlus. Post to Facebook. Post to StumbleUpon. Post to Pinterest. Post to LinkedIn. Post to . . . Then analyze what’s working and tweak

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We’re all guilty at some point of not managing our time as effectively as we could have done. Whether you’re running late for a university submission, deadline for a client is looming or just finding it hard to keep on top of your to do’s maybe creatively managing your time better is something you could improve. Now you don’t need to make major changes to your routine to manage your time better, simply by bringing just some of the tips I have here into your creative day you’ll be surprised just how well you can meet those deadlines on time stress free.

1 . Seperate your tasks into time chunks whether 30-45 minute chunks followed by a break to refresh your mind ready for the next task.

2. Set an alarm to ring when your time is up this will prompt you to move onto the next task and if unfinished come back to your current one later.

3.Use app’s or timers to track how much time you’ve already spent on your project.

4. Pop on a tv series or film is another way of managing your time if you don’t mind abit of background noise, once the show is over you’re prompted to finish what your doing ( just don’t get to distracted watching it if you’re a adventure time fan it might be best to stick to the gardening channel instead).

5. Use a calendar whether paper based or digital to track how much time you have from the start date to finish for your project. This way you can allocate set days and time to progress with your project.

Image by illustrator Kritsten Vasgaard you can find out more about their work here .

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I’m an easily distracted person. In order to write productively, I need a private space with no voices, few interruptions, and a view—because, let’s be honest, when you spend a large portion of your writing time staring out the window, you need something nice to look at. And all of this was fairly easy to arrange before my kids were born.

So cute, right? They make life worth living. They also make writing really difficult. For the past six years, I’ve had roughly 2 hours of writing time each day. To maximize that time, I’ve had to stick to a strict routine to keep myself on task. I work in my office, where it’s private, noise is minimized (meaning, the wrestling matches go undetected, but I can hear when they take the turn into a UFC cage match), and the kids can get me if they need me. I light a candle. I start up some instrumental music. With these things in place, it’s easier for me to focus and write.

But something happened last week that shot holes all through my perfect writing routine. My youngest son started school—half-day PreK. But that’s great, you say. Writing will be so much easier now with both kids at school, right?

One would think. But, le sigh, not so much. See, my kids attend different schools that are twenty minutes apart, with vastly different drop-off and pick-up times. In order to maximize my writing and decrease the amount of time spent driving back and forth, I decided it would be best for me to drop my son off, then write at the library that’s around the corner from his school. It wasn’t the perfect solution (obviously, writing at home with all my stuff in its proper place was the perfect solution), but I figured it would work. Unfortunately, those first few days were fairly unproductive. Why? Because the triggers I’d set up to get myself into the writing mood—privacy, music, candle, view—aren’t in great abundance at the library.

Now, I know that some of you don’t struggle with this. I know writers who can write anywhere, any time, no matter what’s going on. If that’s you, I envy you. I resist the urge to poke your dolls with voodoo pins. I wish I was wired that way, but I’m just not. So if you’re one of those types like me, who need structure when writing, what can you do when your routine/schedule/regimen changes, and you can’t  get into the writing groove? Here are some things that are working for me:

1. Keep Trying Ideas until You Find Ones that Work. My initial plan was to write at my son’s school (which is held at a church). But that first day, I learned that there was no Wi-Fi, which I need for Thesaurus writing. Also, my writing space was located right next to the nursery, which was noisy enough, but when the bingo group walked in…time for Plan B. I considered going to a nearby Panera or Chick-fil-A, since they have Wi-Fi, but I knew there would be too many distractions. So my third option was the library. It took me three tries to find a nice private spot there, and then I was on my way.

2. Duplicate as many of your old triggers as you can. There is no pretty view from inside our library, and for some reason, the dictatorial powers-that-be frown upon my open flame candle. *boggle* But I found the privacy piece in the Quiet Reading Room. And I realized that if I bring my earbuds, I can listen to music on my computer while I write. I also always have a drink of some kind while writing, so I’m now smuggling a Snapple into the library. I know. I’m a total hell-raiser. Anyway, when change rears its chaotic head, some of your old triggers just aren’t going to work anymore. But some of them will. Find the ones that do, and make them work for you.

3. Reward Yourself. It’s universal: change sucks. Scrapping an established routine and starting from scratch is hard. One of the things I wasn’t looking forward to was lugging my stuff to the library everyday to work. I knew I would need a good bag to carry my laptop and books back and forth, so I decided to get a nice one. And wouldn’t you know? I got this one for a song at a charity auction.

Now, I don’t mind carting my stuff around as much. Every time I see this, it makes me happy—not only because I bought a pretty new bag, but because I was able to help this incredible cause at the same time. Maybe you’d like to work at a local coffee shop or café—some place where you could have a yummy snack or drink while working. If you write longhand or need paper for taking notes, treat yourself to an awesome pen or notebook. Figure out what motivates you and give yourself a little writing-related pick-me-up to propel you into your new normal.

4. Maintain Perspective. The writing has to get done. Period. The conditions may not be ideal. You may have to write at a time that isn’t so productive for you (hello, mornings). You might have to squeeze your writing time into smaller chunks than you’d like (hello, children). But, chances are, your old writing routine wasn’t initially ideal, either. Very likely, that routine began because of a change that killed the preceding routine. While change is hard, it can be maneuvered, even conquered. Give yourself some time to adjust, and you’ll soon find yourself hammering out the words and wondering what all the fuss was about.

What about you? What are your must-haves to write productively? If you’re struggling with any part of your routine, feel free to let us know in the comments, and maybe we can brainstorm a solution.

The post When Your Writing Routine Goes Poof appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS.

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BY MARTHA CARR

When I was a new writer and no one had commented on any of the words I’d strung together, the idea of a deadline seemed romantic. If I had a deadline that meant someone must have liked something I wrote and someone else must have asked for more.

Fortunately, all of that came true and I have had the pleasure of writing for The Washington Post and The New York Times and have had several books published.

However, a deadline also means a lot of responsibility and for writers with busy lives a due date can seem daunting, especially when talking about an entire book.

One thing became clear: Failing to turn in a manuscript on time has real-world consequences—not only for you as a writer, but also for everyone who’s waiting on your words of wisdom. There are publishing schedules and marketing strategies that are set up with the idea that you’re a professional writer who keeps your word. Miss a deadline without a good excuse and your peers will start to operate off the idea that you’re not very professional. If you’re not also a brilliant writer who says things that make everyone have to pay attention, your career may be short-lived.

But it’s not so easy to write on a deadline. You have to create a work plan, even know if you’re on time, ahead of schedule or dangerously close to not meeting a deadline. You also have to become your own project manager and figure out how to create a writing schedule that can breathe and change with your life. As you’ve probably already seen just as soon as you make a schedule someone else throws a wrench in it and you’re off doing something else for a little while.

I wrote my first three books raising a son on my own and then taking care of two elderly parents.

There were plenty of times I sat in a doctor’s office or thought about what to make for dinner for everyone while thinking about plotlines. I wanted to remain present and cheerful for family and friends, but for that to happen I had to find a strategy that would allow me to write and meet deadlines.

That strategy wound up consisting of three crucial steps:

1) You have to be reasonable with yourself and set realistic expectations.

How fast do you actually write? How much time can you realistically devote to writing in a day? How many days a week can you write without neglecting other areas of your life? Crunching these numbers will give you a framework for setting realistic expectations.

The good news is, even with small pieces of time it’s still possible to write a good book without years passing. I’ve been writing the books in The Wallis Jones series fairly quickly although I also have a lot going on in a day and even want to plan in a social life.

2) Ask yourself whether you can produce the manuscript or article in time.

Be realistic. Look at the total page count that’s needed and at the deadline, and count up the days before the deadline. Can you write enough pages per day to meet the deadline? If not, you’re going to have to either find a few extra days of writing or have a conversation with your editor, sooner rather than later. Sometimes, that’s necessary and shows that you’re on top of things and willing to work as a team member.  Not doing so can cause doors to slam closed.

My own answer turned out to be that I could write about three double-spaced pages in a day, three days a week.

3) To meet deadlines, you’ll need to glue yourself to your seat until that minimum number is hit.

If you’ve been reasonable with yourself, it may not always be pleasant, but it’s doable. In my case, sometimes, the words come so easily and I’m having such a good time working on my newest book, The Circle, that a lot more gets written. Sometimes, every single word feels like it was pulled out of somewhere murky and I struggle to hit three pages. However, I still do it and when the three pages are done, I get up and go find something else to do.

 

The last thing to keep in mind is something I mentioned earlier: Make sure that you’re still having at least a little fun and staying present with the people in your life. Both will feed your writing and make you feel more balanced in general. Then, writing and deadlines are a healthy part of your life, which will inevitably show in your work.

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Martha Randolph Carr is the author of 4 books including The List — the first in her Wallis Jones political thriller series.  A professional copywriter and editor, she has written a weekly, nationally syndicated column on politics and life that has run on such political hotspots as TheModerateVoice.com and Politicus.com.

Her work has run regularly in such venerable publications as The Washington Post, The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune and Newsweek.

Martha is also a melanoma survivor, a Chi runner and an occasional skydiver — not to mention a descendant of Thomas Jefferson!

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Using Bookends to Overcome Procrastination Guest post by Mary Jo Guglielmo 'If and When' were planted, and Nothing grew.  ~ProverbProcrastination………….who me? I know how to get things done; I also know how to procrastinate. As a writer, sometimes procrastination has to do with feeling lost in a project, other times it’s about not being satisfied with a draft.  Personally, I'm pretty

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by

Amie Kaufman

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Productivity. How much you do, when you do it, how you measure it. Put a bunch of writers together, and you can guarantee it’ll come up at some point. We had a great post about the Productivity Pyramid here on Pub Crawl by our own Sooz Dennard.

Do you write in the morning? Are you more productive at night? Do you have a daily word count? Do you count pages when you’re editing? How do you balance the demands of email, social media, writing and (hopefully) the rest of your life?

A couple of weeks ago, author Nova Ren Suma asked this:

 

Fellow writers & freelancers: How do you keep yourself organized and make the best of your hours and juggle a dozen things at once? Tips?

— Nova Ren Suma (@novaren) April 16, 2014

She got a slew of answers, and author R. J. Anderson provided an epic reply, storified here – I recommend reading it.

I started writing my response, but it got so enormous that I’m going to break it up over three posts. Today, I’m going to talk about time management. Specifically, to-do lists and the Pomodoro Technique. This may not sound sexy, but trust me, it can be a game-changer. The second post will talk about task types, social media and your working day. The third will talk about attitudes and approaches to work.

I find productivity advice a really interesting area, because a lot of it is for people who work in offices, with jobs where you actually know when you’ve completed a task. That’s not always the case for writers. So the advice below is specifically for writers (and other creatives), and is  based on years at a not-for-profit running a highly productive team, as well as my own experience studying, working full time, and writing two trilogies at once.

LISTS

I’m not just talking about a regular to-do list here. Putting everything on one giant list is a guaranteed way to look at it, get overwhelmed, then voluntarily throw yourself down a Lizzie Bennet Diaries rabbit hole rather than doing any work. It’s too big a chunk of information to be absorbed at once and it looks like more than you can ever do. But a good to-do list can change your life, seriously. It can help ensure nothing is forgotten, avoid last-minute rushes and actually reduce your stress. Promise!

There are lots of different techniques, and you should pick one that works for you, but I’m going to show you what mine looks like. The keys are:

• Clearly outline each task
• Allocate an achievable amount to each day
• Leave room for the unexpected
• Plan ahead

I keep my list in a draft email, so I can access it from my phone or laptop anytime to add an item. When I acquire a new to-do task, I don’t jump on it that day unless it’s urgent. I assign it to a future day and forget about it until it’s time to do it.  I cannot say enough how much this reduces stress.

I list each day of the coming week and allocate tasks under it. I then have a heading for ‘Coming Dates’, a heading for ‘Next Week’ and a heading for ‘Future Actions’. And then each day I hand write a list of what I’m going to get done, and put the rest of the list away. That way I only have to look at my bite-sized tasks, not the road stretching out ahead. My rule: if I can’t fit my daily list on a post-it, there’s too much on it to do it all.

Here’s what goes under each each heading I use:

Daily heading: Only the tasks I will achieve that day. These should be clearly outlined, and there shouldn’t be too many.

Coming dates: Appointments or commitments that I can’t forget, that I’ll want to enter into next week’s list.

Next week: A list of things to do next week, but not yet sorted by day — I won’t do this until I know how the week’s shaping up, with any requests from my editors or personal commitments.

Future actions: Stuff that’s happening a while away, that I don’t want to forget.

And here’s an extract from my recent to-do lists. I’ve just listed two individual days for the week, since this is already turning into an epically long blog post.

MONDAY [These items will take up most of a day, but I've left an hour or two free in case of the unexpected. If I get ahead, I'll probably write.]

• Write Pub Crawl blog post
• Send email to (author friend)
• Fill out author questionnaire [for Aussie publisher]
• Crit read (CP’s novel) – 100 pages
• Crit Meg’s chapter [of our WIP]
• Email Jay [to make a time next week to catch up and plot for our WIP]

TUESDAY [This day is going to see me write at least 3,000 words, so I'm not counting on myself to have brain to do too much else -- I've allocated myself easy tasks aside from drafting.]

• Write chapter [of WIP with Meg]
• Post office
• Yoga
• Send invoice [for a guest speaking gig at a local university]
• Email agent [re a foreign rights offer]
• Email editor [with a question about a timeframe]
• Email (friend) [this person is a doctor and checking a few medical aspects of my WIP]

COMING DATES

• 13th May – This Shattered World cover reveal
• 15 May – brainstorming with Jay
• 31 May – 1 June – Emerging Writers Festival (panel on Sunday)

NEXT WEEK

• Tweet for release of (book that’s coming out)
• Email (name), (name) and (name)
• Finish crit read for (author)
• Provide bio/headshot/interview answers to (conference name)
• Email accountant [this one is there eeevery week, finances are confusing, yo]

FUTURE ACTIONS

• [Note here about a story seed I want to work on.]
• [Note here about a place I want to visit for research when I have time]
• [Note here to buy and read some books in a particular genre that focuses on a skill I'd like to improve]

And that’s how my to-do list works! Though it looks complex, it takes about sixty seconds to set up. For me, its main strengths are that it’s easily accessible, easy to maintain, allows me to allocate a task to when I need to do it and then forget it, and means that each day I wake up knowing what I need to get done that day! Whether you decide to go with this format, an app or a more technical system, having a way to track all the balls you have in the air is vital. Your system should be flexible while still making sure you know what to do each day, and allow you to focus on a day at a time as well as seeing the big picture.

POMODORO

When it comes time to tackle the list above, I swear by the Pomodoro Technique. There are variations in the way different people use it, but I’m going to give you a brief description of mine — I’ve shared this with other writers, many of whom have reported it really helps them as well. You can grab a free Pomodoro app for your phone, or do this with a regular kitchen timer.

The technique requires that you work for 25 minutes, followed by a five minute break. You do this four times in a row, then take a half hour break. The key for me is that I start my working time with a list of things to do, whether that’s writing or admin or marketing. I jump on the first one, work until it’s done, then pick up the second one. Under NO circumstances while I’m in my 25 minute period do I do aaaaaaanything other than the tasks I’ve set. Absolutely no social media, making cups of tea, daydreaming, etc. What I find is that the 25 minutes never seems insurmountable, so I jump on in, and the ban on other activities means I skate past that danger time five minutes in, when my fingers start to creep toward opening a new tab for Twitter. By pushing past that ‘distraction point’, I get a heap done.

Equally key is taking the five minute breaks — the idea here is to rest up before you get tired, so you’re ready to keep going for your next 25 minute run. In my five minute breaks I usually stretch, grab a drink, make a bathroom run or throw a three minute dance party with the dog, which has the added benefit of loosening up my back before I get sore from too long at the keyboard. When I hit my 30 minute break, I usually go for a walk — it’s important to leave the keyboard during that break.

I get a heap done when I use this approach — if you’re interested, try it!

 

What tools and techniques do you recommend for improving productivity? I’ll be back next month to talk about task types, social media and your working day. I’d love to hear your suggestions (and I’m happy to answer any questions) in the comments.

—

Amie Kaufman is the co-author of THESE BROKEN STARS, a YA sci-fi novel out now from Disney-Hyperion (US) and Allen & Unwin (Australia). Book two, THIS SHATTERED WORLD, is coming in November 2014, and her new trilogy will start with ILLUMINAE, coming from Random House/Knopf in 2015. She is represented by Tracey Adams of Adams Literary. You can find her on Twitter or on Facebook, or visit the These Broken Stars website for exclusive sneak-peeks and contests. Amie lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband and rescue dog.

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One of the hardest parts of writing fiction for me is the getting started part. Every time I sit down to write, it takes a good twenty to thirty minutes to find a groove. Which is frustrating when you’ve only got an hour and a half to write. I’m always looking for strategies to increase my efficiency (btw, have you seen this awesome post on increasing your daily word count?), so I’m happy to welcome Alyssa Archer to talk about methods for settling down and getting busy…

As human beings, we design transitions for ourselves. We might move from sleep to wakefulness with an alarm clock, toothbrush, and a cup of coffee. Our routines propel us from one mode of being to another. And yet we often plop down in front of the computer or notebook and expect to transition instantly from day-to-day life to writing genius. As a result, we might do a lot of throat clearing, writing meaningless or empty paragraphs, and wasting a lot of time in the process.

Consider developing a set of writing rituals that work much like your waking routine to propel you from the state of everyday being to that of creative master. If you sustain the habit of following these rituals, there’s a good chance they’ll catapult you past the half hour of wasted writing time by giving your subconscious additional clues that it’s time to write. The following are some suggestions for you to build your own creative routine. Choose a few that suit you, or design some of your own.

Get ready. Take care of anything that might distract you during your writing. Get a snack, make some tea, go to the bathroom, let the dog out. Don’t do the dishes, but do spend a few moments caring for yourself before you enter your work zone.

Start with intention. Regardless of your specific writing goals for this session (e.g., write a chapter or write for 60 minutes), choose a one word intention for the feeling you’d like to embody at the end of your writing session. Maybe it’s “creative” or “accomplished” or “happy” or “masterful.” Focusing on the emotion unhooks the intention from any paralyzing expectation of a certain accomplishment and yet provides the subconscious with an immediate goal that sends the desired message: it’s time to get to work.

Settle down with a snow globe meditation. Imagine yourself as a giant snow globe all shaken up—the emotions, flotsam and jetsam of your daily cares, what’s for dinner, all your chattering thoughts swirling inside. Sit and envision the settling of the snow globe, each of the flakes moving slower and slower until at last they have all fallen, a layer of forgotten cares resting at the bottom of your consciousness, leaving a blank canvas for your creativity.

Do nothing for two minutes. Visit this website at the start of each session for two minutes of peaceful reflection at the beach.

Pick a theme song for you as a writer. Play it at the start of each writing session. Much like that cup of coffee or slug of mouth wash, this Pavlovian approach will wake up the writer in you within a few bars of music. Every time you hear that song, your fingers will itch for the keyboard.

Light a candle or ring a bell. Mark the time you start your writing session. Again, ritual is a tool for telling your body and mind to prepare for a certain activity. You don’t want to overdo it, but you want to send clear signals. I am writing now.

Leave the voices behind. Banish the voices of your inner critic, your grandmother, and your 12th grade English teacher; banish your fear of what you’ll have to do if your writing is successful, and banish your fear that it won’t be. Those voices are simply not welcome in the writing zone. Treat your ritual as the threshold that, once crossed, leaves only you and your writing in the room. If these voices crop up despite their lack of invitation (how rude!), simply notice that they’re there and tell them you’ll get back to them later. Do it out loud if it helps. “I know, Granny. I know. This writing isn’t for you, though. It’s for me. I’ll talk to you later.” Added benefit: anyone in the vicinity will now be convinced you are an artist.

Honor your commitment. Write for as long or as far as you said you would. Don’t stop early. Train your mind to follow through.

Close the sacred space. When the timer goes off or you’ve otherwise reached your goal for the session, put your tools away and blow out your candle or ring your bell, acknowledging that your writing time is over. Check in with your intention. How do you feel? How was the writing? Acknowledge your transition and accomplishment for the session. I think an ounce of divinely dark chocolate is in order. You deserve it.

Alyssa Archer is passionate about to building commitment to the craft of writing through community and, along with co-founders Leslie Watts and Jennifer Hritz, she created a year-long, online writing program called Writership to do just that. She has published a paranormal romance novel, Across the Veil, and is currently at work on a second book. Please visit her online at www.writership.org.

The post Getting Quiet and Letting Go of Expectations appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS.

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I usually write about time management on Tuesdays and this is Thursday, so what's going on here? Well, I thought of something today that some of you might want to consider, and consider soon.

For those people whose faith/spiritual tradition involves observing the season of Lent, I'd just like to point out that Lent is a unit of time. Units of time are significant in time management because we can use them for planning tasks. At the beginning of units of time, our will power is often at its highest. Working with a unit of time that has a specific ending date is supposed to increase efficiency because people work harder when they know they're going to have to stop. Lent ends either on Holy Thursday or the evening before Easter. I didn't even realize Lent was here until today because Easter is a moveable feast, and someone moved it to the end of March this year. Easter is early. Lent is early. I didn't do any planning for it, but I'm itching to get my hands on this unit of time now.

Here's my thinking: Traditionally, people give something up during Lent as a form of penance. Would it be dreadful to give up something that damages our writing practice so that we're using our abstinence for something other than penance?  Facebook before quitting time? Checking e-mail before lunch break? Yes? No? I'm also wondering about using the Lenten period to add something to our work lives instead of giving something up or to use it as an extended training period. I'm wondering about using it to develop discipline/willpower. Would it be so very bad to use Lent to try to improve ourselves?

I'm going to take a chance and use Lent as a training period for discipline. I've been noticing that the beginnings of weeks are better for me, at least psychologically. Wednesdays and Thursdays, when I rarely work because I'm doing elder care, have become very hard for me recently. The unending small family- and life-related tasks seem particularly overwhelming on those days. It's hard to recover on Friday, and then the weekends go primarily to family and personal work again. It's not just a matter of needing to find a way to overcome what's happening to me so I can make the best use of what work time I have. I have to find a way to overcome what's happening to me so I don't meltdown.

I came up with a plan yesterday to focus on those Mondays and Tuesdays in an up and cheery way instead of focusing on those Wednesdays and Thursdays in a doom and gloomy way. I could be far more selective about which telephone calls I take (I have the technology to do that), for instance. I could stick to checking e-mail after lunch and start holding off on replying to personal e-mail until evening. Yes, I could do those things. Usually plans like those fill me full of joy.  (I think they had something to say about that in the Yoga Journal Boost Your Willpower program.) But this time I was having trouble cranking up any enthusiasm. I'm already up to my neck in managing time. How much more can I do?

Lots more!

Someone asked me today if I'd given up chocolate for Lent when I turned down an offer of some. I told her Lent had blown past me this year because Easter won't stay put. I hadn't been prepared for it. She insisted that it's never too late to take part in Lent. I don't know this woman. She attends a drop in yoga class I've only dropped in on twice. I wouldn't recognize her. Clearly she's more devout than I am, since she mentioned speaking to her priest last night, Ash Wednesday, and the last time I spoke to my minister it was because we were both at the bank. But...but...she may have been one of those yoga messengers you hear about in the Bible or some place. Ya think?

I realized she was right when she said,  "It's never too late to take part in Lent," because it only started yesterday, one of my worst days of the week. My worst day of the week was the first day of Lent. Oh, yes. A sign. I can do Lent!

I now have a 40-day training period to work on developing some Monday and Tuesday discipline. Well, a 38-day training period, because 2 days are gone. I am psyched, though. And when that  training period is over, the Easter Bunny will be coming. It's all good.

I know that woman said it's never too late to take part in Lent, but I wouldn't wait too long, if I were you.

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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. :-)

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• Set up a business
• Paid for a professional edit
• Hired a cover designer
• Outsourced formatting to a HTML goddess because the book is full of links and redirects
• Test-marketed it with a select group of writers & used feedback to strengthen

	SW	iTunes	CS-Amazon.com (PRINT)	B&N	Kindle (Amazon.com)	Kindle  (Amazon Euro)	Kobo	PDF	Total
May	17	10	243	62	412	25		102	871
June	13	19	503	66	905	50		89	1645
July	13	22	887	78	1334	77		76	2487
August	13	33	893	56	1297	103		60	2455
September	10	32	1036	53	1282	151	21*	47	2632
Total:	66	116	3562	315	5230	406	21	374	10090

• Winning Top 20 Best Blogs For Writers with Write To Done a few months before The Emotion Thesaurus released. This raised our profile significantly, and at a critical time.
• Once sales started climbing, Amazon would send out mailers to people who purchased writing related books, and sometimes The Emotion Thesaurus was listed as a ‘Those that purchased X might also like’ pick.
• A price war between B & N and Amazon. For the last week of September, the two duked it out, lowering the book’s price daily until the discount put it under 10 bucks. Average sales nearly doubled for print (although sales dipped that week for Kindle).

• Not soliciting endorsements. We didn’t do this in advance of publishing the ET because we were worried about being turned down, worried about getting the cold shoulder because we were newcomers and new authors. Now more than ever we are seeing an acceptance of SP, and of Traditional authors making the leap. Endorsements probably would have helped us greatly and so moving forward we’ll be seeking them out.
• Not believing in ourselves enough at the start. I think we wasted a lot of energy on doubt because we hadn’t published before (except in magazines) and we were afraid that while we felt The Emotion Thesaurus added value, others would not. The response to The Emotion Thesaurus has been nothing short of phenomenal and knowing that Illinois State University is using it in their Creative Writing curriculum makes us incredibly proud. A self published book going to University...who would have thought?

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Summer Friday Book Review features yet another nonfiction book:

Title: The 5 Keys to the Great Life
Author: Dr. Tomi Bryan and Dr. Jerry White
Publisher: R2 Media Group Publications
ISBN: 978-0-9824587-0-9
Reviewed by: Karen Cioffi for BookPleasures

The 5 Keys to the Great Life is unique in that it is written by a brother and sister team. Both authors have impressive credentials in their chosen fields of law, management, education, and psychology, combined. With the number of self-help books out there written by every Tom, Dick and Harry, it’s refreshing to read one from writers who actually have an educational background and job experience in the area they are advising others on. In addition to all this, they have both been through burdening health and family problems. These personal experiences provide them with additional insight into coping mechanisms and tools that they impart to the reader.

The Foreword and the Introduction to the book both make reference to the speed at which life is changing, and to the overwhelming amount of information that is bombarding our senses, and to our incapability of absorbing the changes and information as fast as they come. The authors explain that with so much change, the family unit and individuals are now being affected. They devised The 5 Keys to the Great Life to help people not only cope with life in today’s fast paced societies, but create a better…a great life.

One of the aspects of the book I like is that the authors, in a couple of sections, use two familiar movies and a television show to convey their points. Using these shows, the authors are able to bring out the importance of knowing who you are, what your values are, your current status; the importance of knowing where your boundaries are so others don’t overstep them; and the importance of knowing what you want. This engages the reader and allows for an easier understanding.

While the book offers many of the same tools to improve one’s life that other self-help books offer, such as positive thinking, changing harmful or stagnant thoughts, setting boundaries, and forgiveness, the authors add their own personal touch to the topic. They provide a number of assessment quizzes or tools that are geared to make you search deep down for the answers. And, they offer many quotes from qualified and even famous people and philosophies.

One point in The 5 Keys to a Great Life that I like in particular is the MapQuest analogy, “In order to obtain directions from MapQuest, you must enter a starting point and an ending point.” The authors explain that you need to know where you currently are, and you need to know your destination in order to find the path and tools to get there. If you don’t have these two points, you have no direction.

In the self-help arena of books, this one holds its own. While I don’t agree with everything the authors reveal in the book, on a whole I think it is a worthwhile read.

About the authors:

Dr. Tomi Bryan’s professional experience includes working in the legal, compliance, and educational fields. She holds a Ph.D. in Applied Management and Decision Sciences with a Specialization in Leadership and Organizational Change from Walden University, a J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law, and a B.A. in Political Science from North Carolina State University. She has been a practicing attorney since 1989, and is a huge ACC basketball fan.

Dr. Jerry White’s professional experience includes working in the education, psychology, technology, and training fields. He holds a Ph.D., Ed.S., and an M.Ed. from Georgia State University and a B.S. from North Carolina State University. Currently, Dr. White serves as an adjunct professor teaching Master’s Degree and Doctoral Degree students. He has dedicated his life to helping people reach their highest potential through training and counseling.



~~~~~~~~~~
For a change of pace - Children's Book Reviews

How the Moon Regained Her Shape
What is Electricity and Magnetism?
Walking Through Walls Review by Kristin J. Johnson

~~~~~~~~~~
To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars - signup for The Writing World newsletter on the right top sidebar!

Karen Cioffi
Multi-award Winning Author, Freelance/Ghostwriter, Editor, Marketer
Writer’s Digest Website of the Week, June 25, 2012

Find Karen’s eBooks on writing and marketing at:
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com (see the sidebar for titles)

Karen Cioffi Professional Writing Services
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/karen-cioffi-writing-services/

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Today’s offerings are an eclectic assortment of articles: posts on time management, being more creative, avoiding scams and scare tactics, and how to hang onto your writing dreams.

Grab your cup of coffee or Diet Coke and read on!

 

“Get Creative on Demand” says “you have to be able to turn on your creativity like it’s a faucet. Why? Because most of us have other responsibilities in our lives that often interfere with our writing time. This means we must make the most of every minute we can steal away to do our writing.”

 

“How to Effectively Create More Time to Write” is something most of us need training in. “With an already packed schedule of work, family/social obligations, and that pesky to-do list that never seems to get any shorter, making time to write is not only difficult, but sometimes feels like an impossibility.” Where does your time go? You may be surprised.

 

“LendInk, Author Activism, and the Need for Critical Thinking” from Writer Beware highlights a recent Internet mess that we need to be aware of. “Ignorance and lack of investigation are also what lead writers into the arms of scammers.” ALSO read the whole post. The last half deals with another related subject that you need to take to heart. Her final paragraph says: “We live in highly polarized times. That’s as true in publishing as it is in politics–and, I think, as reflective of the fear of a future that, as much as we would like it to be clear and certain, offers no assurances but the certainty of upheaval. In such a situation, it’s more essential than ever to think critically, investigate carefully, and act deliberately. And to be wary of received wisdom, or anything masquerading as such.” [And that includes anything I say!]

 

“Are You Really Meant to Be a Writer?” gives some very practical ideas on how to hang onto your dreams during the wannabe-published years.

 

“Mette Ivie Harrison on How to Find Time to Write” will blow you away, so I saved this one till last. Read it and be inspired!

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Thank you to Tanita Davis for bringing a time management post at Cynsations to my attention. I would have found it myself, but probably not for another month or so. Reading blogs regularly is something I've given up in order to find some time for family paperwork and life tasks.

Today at Cynsations author Mette Ivie Harrison has a guest post up on How to Find Time to Write. Harrison has written six novels while raising five kids and running an Ironman triathlon each year. She offers  a number of lists of suggestions for managing time.

Early in her post she says: "If you want to add writing (or more writing) to your current schedule, the first simple principle is that you will have to make room by taking something else out." What interested me the most is what she lists as things that can be "taken out"--TV, movies, shopping, lunch with friends, and volunteer work.  

What she's talking about is busyness. Busyness is one of the few places where I think someone can truly "find" time. Cutting out the busyness to get to that time is rough, though. Harrison says, "No one is going to make writing time for you. You will have to wrest it away from other commitments, and it will not be painless." Busyness provides a lot of our connections with people. Eliminating any of it is going to have an impact on your life.

Not everyone who writes has to do this. Jane Yolen, for one, can work and be busy, too. And by no means is a desire to remain "busy" an indication that someone struggling with time doesn't have a commitment to writing. I'm just saying that busyness is a "place" you can look for time. It sounds as if Mette Ivie Harrison agrees with me.

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I know, I have my own little Fan club going for Will Terry but I couldn't pass up sharing his blog post this week on time management. Great subject.

My time management skills aren't great but I'm trying to get better. I'm juggling a few deadlines right now and I admit, it is overwhelming. I am fortunate that my kids are older now, so my time is my own and I have plenty of it. Believe it or not, though, I think I got more done when they were little because every minute of my time was scheduled. Okay, I know those with little ones don't want to read that. It is hard, very hard when they are small, no doubt. But when you do have the time, you can easily waste it away.

I liked Will's idea of using the ipad to sketch. I have one and could be utilizing it more. However, I do have my work space in the living room which I love because I'm in the hub of it all. For me that is an advantage because I can be with the family yet keep pressing on with the deadlines.

My biggest time eater is my addiction to, "Words With Friends", as I've mentioned before. I haven't stop playing, it still helps me decompress as I work, but I have edited my amount greatly. I used to have at least 20 games going at a time and now I have 3 or 4 which can take several days to finish (right, Gina?) . For me that is a vast improvement and a fair compromise.

My other time management tool? SLEEP. Yes, sleep. For years, I was trying to burn the candle at both ends trying to get everything done until I realized it was backfiring on me. I was always tired and it was fruitless. Instead I've tried to give up my night owl ways, go to bed. BINGO. I don't know why, but for me that has done the trick. I'm not taking several hours of coffee and self motivation speeches to get to work each day.

Anyway, be sure to read Will's blog post. It's always interesting and insightful to see how others handle their time. I still have a long way to go, but like the deadlines, it's a work in progress. :)

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Once we are refocused on our goals and have regained a clear vision, there’s one more step to take to get back on track.

It’s time to double-check our “creativity routines” and our time management. Then we can attain those writing goals.

Need some ideas that work?

Help is Right Here!

First, download this free ebook on “Time Management for Creative People.” I have been reading one short chapter each morning before I start work. It has definitely helped my productivity. Chapter Three alone has worked wonders.

This short article on “Routines, Systems, Spontaneity” talks about “the creative process,” which is really several interlocking processes. The magic happens at the point where they intersect. Here’s how to coordinate these three critical processes.

Maybe you totally embrace all these ideas, but your calendar is just too full! If that’s your issue, check out “Is It Time for Calendar Triage?” Here are some short, practical tips for cleaning out an over-stuffed calendar.

Focus + Time Management = Productivity

Don’t try to implement every tip you read about, at least not right away. Choose one to try for a week or two, until it’s a new habit. Then choose another one, and so on.

Do YOU have a writing habit you want to develop? What needs to change in your ability to manage your time? Be brave and share an example!

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When I say that beginnings and endings are significant, I'm talking about the beginnings and endings of units of time, not manuscripts.

The beginning of a new calendar year (I've written many times here, I'm sure, about how much I love the month of January), a new school year, and summer break...fun times, huh? We tend to get excited about our plans for "new" blocks of time. Oh, what we're going to do this Christmas season! NaNoWriMo! May Days! If we can perceive some upcoming time as something new, as something different, a change, it's far easier to believe that we can make a change in how we're going to behave in that new chunk of time than it is to believe we can just change what we're doing now in this ho-hum unit of time we've been living in.

If we think about the unit system I wrote about back in February and the research that suggests that people are productive for the first 45-minutes that they work, there may be some logic to our love of new beginnings. Experience has taught us that we're more productive when we start something new, and we like feeling productive. We like the surge of starting something new. I swear, we once got new living room furniture, and just that change led me to start a new plan to keep everyone from eating in the living room. That probably didn't even last 45-minutes, but I remember the rush I felt not because I had a new couch and two new chairs all at the same time, but because the new furniture changed something and I was going to do something different because of it.

The end of a unit of time is a different story, particularly if things haven't gone well during the time period that is drawing to a close. Take last week for me, for instance. I ended up taking one elder to a doctor's appointment on Monday, wasting a lot of time Tuesday reading a book (on my Kindle!), visiting an elder on Wednesday, visiting the first elder again on Thursday (as well as doing life maintenance work while I was out of the house). It got to be mid-day Friday, and I thought, Ah, the week was wasted, anyway, I might as well surf the 'Net. And start again next week when a new unit of time will begin.

In this situation, you can see the parallels between applying self-discipline to work and applying self-discipline to "problems" such as eating, smoking, etc. Oh, this day of dieting is ruined, anyway, because I ate a second cupcake. I might as well eat a couple more and start again tomorrow. How much time is wasted at the end of a bad work unit because we're too disappointed in what we've accomplished to continue? And how to make better use of that time?

Well, yes, we could suck it up and apply some self-discipline, but if you aren't aware that I'm low on that, you haven't been reading this blog regularly. I wanted to come up with another way to make better use of those bad ending hours. While driving home from my taekwondo class last night, I did. (This is an example of a breakout experience, by the way. I'd been thinking about this situation for three days, and an idea for a solution came to me after an hour of practicing joint locks and knife defense.)

Doing absolutely anything work-related during those lost hours at the end of a unit of time  would be better than just blowing them off because things didn't turn out the way we planned in the days leading up to them. Anything. So we can keep fallback work to do then. For writers, this will not be difficult. We have piles of promotional work, research, projects that we've started and not finished that we could shift to when we realize that we're blowing off time. Filing. C

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