Time Management for Writers

The tug of commitment to work, family, and future goals is relentless. We set boundaries or rules for ourselves to protect our writing time, but still watch that time fritter away when other tasks pop up that demand, or distract, our attention. Here are five strategies to keep your writing time intact.

Change Your Mindset

One of the greatest things we can do as writers is value our desire, and sometimes need, to write. Sit quietly for fifteen minutes without the distraction of TV or internet. Think about what writing means to you, how it makes you feel, and the value your writing gives to others. If you hit internal resistance on that last one, welcome to the club. An awful lot of writers devalue their writing as recreational, selfish, or unimportant in the larger scheme of the world.

Really think about what your time spent writing does for you and your loved ones. Perhaps it lightens your mood or makes you happy. Less stress is good for you physically and good for you and yours emotionally. If you share your work, almost anything you write will touch a chord with one reader or another. If just one reader may feel less alone in the world or like someone understands them, or has a better day because of something you wrote, that’s worth your time, don’t you think? Maybe writing helps your bottom line or increases your confidence or lets you think outside the box of your own little headspace.

Now write down your answers so you can refer to them on the days you’re wondering why you’re trying so hard to preserve your writing time.

Prioritize Daily

At the start of your working day, whatever that means for you, take ten minutes and fully focus on your commitments for the day. Decide which of your tasks are both urgent and important (a process you can thank General Dwight Eisenhower for developing). Urgency means it must be done today. Important means it must be done by you. This gives you four options: 1) urgent/important (must do), 2) urgent/not important (could delegate), 3) not urgent/important (should be done so doesn’t become urgent), 4) not urgent/not important (strike it from your list). Reorder your list starting with the number one tasks and proceeding down through the number threes.

Where do you think your writing time should fall? You can’t delegate it, so it has to be a number one priority or a number three. Guess what I vote for based on my mindset? If it helps your perspective, set a tight deadline so that getting your words in becomes urgent.

Be Productive

When do you tend to write best? Early in the morning when you’re fresh? After getting your physical or most mentally taxing high-priority tasks done? After the household has settled down at night and you already feel accomplished because you prioritized your day? You might have to experiment, but figuring out the best time for YOU will lead to more words on the page. Writing at a time when your energy levels are naturally high allows better concentration and focus, which we’ll talk more about in a moment.

Do A Data Dump

During the first five minutes of your writing time, it can be useful to simply write down everything you still need to do during your day. Then write down everything you’re worried about and the little thoughts that keep reoccurring, like needing to reach out to a distant friend or make that dentist appointment. Just disgorging all the things you’re trying to hold in your head can free up your mental processes. Now you have both a written reminder of tasks to add to your priority list and a clear head.

Focus

You can get a lot more words on the page in a shorter amount of time by practicing deep focus. According to Cal Newport, author of “Deep Work”, a ninety-minute work period is an ideal goal for deep focus, with fifteen minute breaks between sessions. Generally, two sessions plus prep and breaks, about four hours, is the most productive for all writing tasks. For our purposes, once you’ve done your data dump, reviewed your last scene, decided on the goal of your writing time, and put in ninety minutes of head-down work without distractions, you’ll have managed a solid two-hour session. Using a timer is useful.

Deep focus means no internet, no notifications popping up on your screen, no phone calls, no talking to the fam, no multi-tasking at all, no breaking off to complete a different task or whip out a quick email. Jot down a note if you need to research something later. If I forget a name or need to make up a street address, I type a reminder directly into my sentence, ie: “Oh, no,” BLONDE COP said. “Where’s NEED A NAME street?”

If you’re email or Facebook addicted, practice longer periods of independence without checking in during the rest of your day. Place work-related email sessions and social media tasks, including relationship-building, on your priority list, but indulge in scrolling for entertainment only during the breaks in your day. You may find yourself way more productive across the board, not just in your word count!

Please share your thoughts on, or your experiences with practicing time management to fit writing into your day. Join me on the first Friday of each month for exploration, discovery, and discussion of the writing life.