Progress and Productivity

Yesterday was deadline day! And I’m actually pretty happy with what I turned in (rare for me), which means my writing radar is probably way off or something and my editor will write back and be like, Girl, you crazy? But more importantly, I think I found a couple ways to fix two of the problems that had been bugging me, so I was pumped to write said editor and explain my “brilliant plan.” Ah, initiative.

I also signed contracts! Yay! Isn’t it weird how you can be almost done with the whole book and you’re just now signing the contract?

Moving on…

Today, I’m responding to a suggestion in the comments from Phil. He has a great writing blog following his journey called A Time to Phil. You should check it out. Phil writes:

I was curious if you would write a post about your writing schedule, and how you fit it in between your day job (and before that law school and the bar). I’m still struggling to balance writing w/ a full time job and other commitments, but you seem to have uncanny time-management skills! Would love if you could share some tips.

Ok, well, first let me say: That’s really flattering. Buuuuuuuuut, my time management skills are not pretty. I’ll repeat: Not pretty. At all. I wish more than anything I had some set schedule and I stuck to it and I never even thought about turning on the TV because my love of writing is just so strong that it’s all I want to do and I can’t wait to sit down and stare at the computer for five hours and Facebook never tempts me and…yeah no.

Half the time (read: 80%), I’m a hot mess. But, alright, you get the point. I do manage to get things done (obviously). I’ve written four books this year plus editor revisions for my own, so I’ll admit, I do write. My reason for telling you all this is simply to say, I’ve had to embrace my process. I spent so much time beating myself up about the time I wasted or the writing I didn’t get done that it was paralyzing. Would I like it much better if I wrote 1,000 words a day? Absolutely. But I don’t.

So here are two things that have helped me manage my time, be more productive, and fit work into my schedule. Next post, I’ll add a few more:

First, I had to understand why I wasn’t being as productive as I knew I could be. I would have free time available for writing but then I’d squander it away playing on the interwebz. I’m not lazy. None of us are if we’re trying to write freaking books in our spare time! So what was the deal? Last year I wrote a post about some research I did on why Type A people procrastinate. You can find it here. Here’s an excerpt:

See, it’s not that we don’t care enough, that we don’t want to do the work, it’s that we are so afraid of not living up to our own high expectations of ourselves, that we’d rather not start in the first place. We’re sabotaging ourselves.

So, I started taking advice from the research articles done on procrastination and I learned to “aim for a C+” when writing. Reminding myself of why I’m not working helps me overcome the urge to put it off.

Second, I began to appreciate every inch of progress made. There was a time where I was upset with myself when I didn’t get, say, 2,000 words done for the day. But that meant that I only wanted to get the big chunks of writing done. Now, I’ve changed my motto to: “Every sentence I get done is one that I don’t have to do later.” Y’all, this has changed my life. There are so many times when I’m not feeling it and I’ll just write a few sentences or whatever and then let myself poke around the internet or go clean and then maybe more words will pop into my head and I’ll get those down. These ADD UP. And while this one hundred percent does not replace longer writing sessions, it does make “real” writing sessions that much less daunting. I love having less to do so that when it’s crunch time for my deadlines and I know I have to embrace my crazy writing process, I remind myself that I’ve knocked hours off the time I’ll have to spend working. I, personally, get more motivated when I feel like I’m doing well. My new “motto” creates the positive energy that I need to build momentum, plus it get me to take advantage of the smaller bits of free time I have.

Next post, I’ll continue talking about time management and upping productivity while balancing a schedule. I’ve really been appreciating the new comments and discussions going on. As always, hit me up there or by email or Twitter. And, finally, what about y’all–why do you procrastinate and what keeps you from being productive? Spill.

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