I’ve been talking about time management all month, and this is the last bit of that. It’s important to realize that you can have all the time in the world to write and still get nothing done. That’s why it’s important to have daily, weekly, monthly and even yearly goals. Yes ,I know. I don’t plan that far in the future either, but we need something by which to measure our success, and goals help us do that.
So sit down and figure out what you think you can accomplish each day. You can use word or page count it doesn’t matter, but it needs to be a number that you know you can stick to. One page a day is a book a year. But if you can do 10, you can finish your book in a month. If you do 20 pages a day you can finish your first draft in two weeks. Did you know that the average writer takes about two and half hours to write 20 pages? That’s head down fingers on the keyboard typing about 35 wpm.
In my FAST DRAFT class I teach the importance of letting go of that internal editor while you are creating, because there isn’t a bigger time waster than that IE. When you are creating, you have to send the IE on vacation. Send them far, far away.You need to focus on creating.
Sometimes you have to trick yourself to get things done. Or treat yourself with bribes.
In another class I teach THE WRITING GAME (we are starting Nov. 1 on my free workshop loop get to it thru www.candacehavens.com) we pull random numbers out of hat and that’s how many word you have to write that day. You can bank words if you do more, but you have to do the minimum amount each day. My students love this game, because it reminds them that writing can be fun.
Now, I don’t want to get to far away from my time management thesis here. But you have to know going in what some of the pitfalls might be, and you have to plan for them. Tricking yourself, or bribing does work well. BUT you need some attainable goals to measure.
Sit down right now and answer the following:
1. What do you want to accomplish this week with your writing?
2. What are two things today you can do to make that happen?
3. What is one thing you can do each day to make that happen?
Now do this for your monthly and yearly goals. It’s a wonderful feeling to be able to look back and see what you’ve done.
These time management techniques can be used for anything. What can you accomplish in 20 minutes? Can you clean your kitchen? Write five pages? Walk the dog? Knit half a sleeve?
We use timed writing a lot in the classes I teach, but you can use that idea for any task you want to accomplish. I know it takes me less than 5 minutes to unload the dishwasher. It takes about six minutes to clean the bathtub (It’s kind of big). It takes me about an hour to answer emails in the morning. I have to work these things into my day. It helps to know how long it REALLY takes you do something.
It’s a little too anal for me, but it helps if you keep a log, at least for a short time. You might be surprised how short or long a time it takes you to do certain things.
I hope these tips have helped this month!
I’d like to hear about your time management tricks? Or feel free to share your goals.
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I have time management problems, every time i want to write, my brother ask me to watch their 8 month year old. It seems like i cant keep up with it. Then every time i want to write, i am not near a computer. So I have notebooks, but i forget those usually. i try to tell myself sit down and write, but there are so many fun things on the computer. I.E. like now. lol
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My main problem with managing my time is the pull of day job, family and friends.
They seem to think that because you aren’t working outside the home you have all the time in the world to do things for them. I’ve explained writing needs to be treated like a ‘real’ job but they don’t get it and get upset when you tell them ‘No, I have to write.”
You have so much on your plate how do you manage family and friends on top of an already full schedule?
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Last year when I did NaNoWriMo, I decided instead of starting something new I’d work on getting my current project as close to done as possible by promising to write every day, no matter how much or little. I’m happy to say I accomplished my goal, and am repeating the process this November. I’m hoping to hit both the word and daily write goals too, and if done, I’d be finished!
My tricks for time management are pretty simple: just do it! I can come up with a thousand excuses–with one new one added in the form of a new fellah in my life–but if I’ve made that promise to myself, I can hold myself accountable.
Fortunately, I don’t have kids in the home so I’m not always being pulled in every direction, but I do have a Mom I like to hang out with and that can eat away time. But it’s really that promise to myself that keeps me honest–and writing.
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Nikki, I think that’s a great idea finishing a project, because you are already invested in in it. Good job.
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That’s some terrific advice, Candace. Personally I have a hard time meeting self-imposed goals, so I’ve given up on them. Between working full time, family and health issues, its almost impossible to keep promises to myself. However, I do manage to get up at 4:30 a.m. and accomplish at least an hour (or two) of writing/revising/whatever. My word count may not be the greatest, but its progress.
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Hey Liz, You’re doing what works for you, and think that’s great. John Grisham used to do the same thing before he went to work as a lawyer each day. That worked out well for him.
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I’m not sure if this question has been asked/answered, and I don’t know if this is the right place for it but…
I see word count numbers all the time, and it suddenly occurred to me that I have no idea how to get an accurate count. I’ve never really counted words in my writing. Is it a function in Word? Is there a quick count method of some kind? Anyone…?
As far as time management, I have all the free time in the world (an anxiety disorder keeps me home and alone most days), but having the discipline to actually sit down and use that time for constructive writing is challenging. To add to the problem, there’s the constant pull of World of Warcraft. Addiction, I has it.
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Michael, Most of the time when we are talking about word count it’s broken down like this: 1 page, double spaced in courier or times, with 1.5 margins, should be 250 words. That is how my publisher Berkley counts it.
BUT Harlequin does it by the Microsoft Word count you can do when you are in a document.
So it is both ways, but for this article I’m talking about the 250 words double spaced.
And WOW is the devil. We call it War Crack in my house. Both of my boys are addicted and I have threatened to throw computers in the trash if their homework didn’t get done.
You might think about writing first, and meeting your goals, and then giving yourself all the WOW time you want. It’s always harder to stop once you start. Just a thought.
-Candy
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I’m looking forward to the Writing Game, Candy… for me it’s hard to turn off the IE… I just need more practice
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Ali, I struggle with the IE problem too. It does take practice, and once you really get into that manuscript it’s easier.
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Is time management the difference between published and not published?!? I’m a SAHM and have a very difficult time meeting my writing goals. Turning off the IE for a while would certainly help- I’m looking forward to the writing game. My problem is the fear of being tired.. Sounds crazy but with 2 small boys at home, I’m scared of being too tired with them. I could easily write for 2 hours in the early morning if I just committed to getting up at 5:00am…. I keep telling myself that I’m going to do it, but then I have a hard time sleeping, get freaked that I’m going to be a zombie and op to sleep in.
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Kim, when you have 2 small boys, keeping your energy up is important. But don’t they go to bed early? 45 minutes before they get up, and 45 minutes after they go to bed, would give you some great time to write. Make sure you leave yourself notes every time you stop. You’ll eventually get to a point, where you can’t wait to write and you really look forward to those 45 minutes.
My friend Shannon did this for years with her toddler. She’d write in 20 minute increments throughout the day when her son was involved with a toy, or a game, or during nap time. She was able to write 10 to 20 pages a day that way, but it took discipline.
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All great advice! I write in 15 minute sprints. It’s something I learned while working full time and balancing the small one. It’s worked, so I’ve just carried it forward as I moved to freelancing and being just Mom. It allows me to multi-task now. So the laundry gets done, homework gets done and some sort of progress is made on my writing tasks. I also keep a paper to do list. Crossing things off makes me always feel like I’ve accomplished great things during the day!
And, I’ve learned to turn off FaceBook and Bejeweled Blitz. *grins* Guilty procrastination tools. Having my screen set to blank out when I write is also a huge help. I can get close to 1000 words in 15 minutes if I’m using WriteRoom or Scrivner (Or DarkRoom on the PC). It’s the little things that really help you stop and focus. I know I can’t turn the Net off. I tend to need to switch screen and research something as I’m writing, but using the screen blanking software helps. And, I hid all my desktop icons. I’ve got a beautiful mostly black image on my desktop and all the clutter is hidden.
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Sybir,
I talked about those Time Sucks like Facebook and Bejewelled last week. They can really eat into your productivity. And there was even an article on yahoo last week talking about how Bejewelled and games like that are designed to be addictive. I’m thinking about getting scrivner. I also have a lot of friends who are using write or die. I’m checking that out too.
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I saw that post. I just didn’t get to comment on it. LOL. There’s a reason you see those darn gems behind your eyelids when you’re trying to fall asleep at night
The timed writing was really key in getting me BACK to being a writer. If you want to know about the pros and cons of Scrivner vs WriteRoom, etc, let me know. I did a whole post up about it a few months ago.
I was just that happy at finding the software!
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Good advice. I’ve used it with housework when my son was a baby and I felt like giving up. I didn’t time myself, I put a timer on. I would decide that I had 5 minutes, set a timer and thought that I would do as many dishes as I could or fold laundry, dust. Surprisingly I was usually done when the timer went off which eventually made the idea of housework less intimidating.
Right now I have major writing issues and I think that I might use a combination of your ideas and mine to get myself going again. Thanks!
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The kitchen timer is perfect for timed writing. Good for you.
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I use the kitchen timer too – both for writing sprints, and like Rose, for chores. I find that if I force myself away from the computer for 10 minute sprints and do laundry or to load the dishwasher, my brain keeps churning away on the story and often I’ll solve a problem that’s been bugging me about the story. (I love those “Aha” moments.)
The timer also helps stop my kids interrupting me. They hear that thing ticking when I’m typing, they know they’d better NOT interrupt me and they’ll go away until they hear it ding.
One thing Candace has taught me over the years (I’ve been part of her FastDraft group since 2006) is that I have to treat my writing like I would a job. So now I set a ‘to do’ list for myself every day – whether it’s a set wordcount per day or set number of edited pages. It helps me stay focused.
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Leah Bramel, you made my day with that comment about treating it like a job. I heart you right now.