Writing and Time Management

I am my own worst enemy! How many other writers feel doomed to a fate of half-finished manuscripts because of demands outside of writing? We’ve all heard the advice ‘write everyday’ or stories about writers who get up in the middle of the night, or so it seems, to get in their word count. If I got up at five to start writing, I’m positive it is not going to be something I can sell or that anyone would want to read! So, what are my options? Because quitting isn’t on the list.

Making time to write seems to be one of the biggest hurdles emerging writers like myself face. I hate it when a fellow writer says ‘You must make writing a top priority’ because it makes me feel ineffective and inadequate at my craft. For most of us, time is the enemy, but there are solutions that will help you schedule or free up time to write.

Consider how many words a day you write in the form of text messages and emails. I went through my non-business-related messages and discovered I was writing five hundred to one thousand words per day, each week. To put it into perspective, that’s the equivalent of this blog post every day. I decided to start flagging my emails in priority order and only responding to emails that were time sensitive right away. The less important emails I returned first thing in the morning, after my daily dose of caffeine, and the rest throughout the day when I couldn’t really do anything else, such as waiting to check out at the grocery store. I incorporated the same system for returning text messages. This enabled me to free up time better spent working on what I love to write rather than what I have to write.

Next, I purchased myself a weekly calendar. I know this sounds profoundly outdated but stick with me. I’m a very visual person. I record each day in the calendar the amount of time I spend reading, researching, and writing. Seeing it on paper motivates me to increase the time I spend, doing the things I enjoy, that make me a better writer.

I recently read The Clockwork Muse: A Practical Guide to Writing Theses, Dissertations and Books by Eviatar Zerubavel. Applying what I learned from the book, I was able to group tasks and obligations so that each took less time, block out in my calendar the times I absolutely could not write, leaving me with a view of potential time slots to sit down and write. The exercise was extremely enlightening and its paid off.

The single most important thing I’m trying to teach myself is to spend the time I do have available for writing being productive. That means putting words on the page. Don’t worry if it’s not great, just get it down, especially if you’re working on a first draft. It doesn’t have to be perfect. That’s what revision is for. I’ve also found it helpful to work on more than one project at a time so that if I get stuck on one, I can toggle to the other. Sometimes, changing gears helps to generate new ideas and can go a long way to getting you unstuck.

Some writers are fortunate, and they are able to write on a regular basis at the same time every day, but that’s not me and I’ve had to come to terms with my reality. I’ve learned to use my subconscious, a powerful tool that never shuts off and is always at my disposal, and on days I’m not writing, I’m thinking about plot and character development, so when it comes time to sit in front of my computer, I’m not wasting what precious time I do have to write.

Making small changes in time management can increase our productivity and output, and that gets us a little closer to completing our projects.

Happy writing!