Organization Tips for the Busy Writer by Jamie DeBree
[caption id="attachment_3797" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Jamie's Writing Schedule"]
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When Johanna invited me to do this post, I didn’t think it would be all that difficult. I’m a very routine-driven person, so even though it may look cluttery on the surface, I’ve generally got a handle on what I’m doing or need to do. Should be easy to whip up a post on how I keep everything straight, right?
Yeah, not so much.
One problem I’ve been having is that even seeing snippets of my schedule tends to intimidate most people (and frankly, laying it all out end to end intimidates me too – I normally take it a bite at a time). Using myself as an example is almost never a good idea, because people focus on the *what* instead of on the *how*. So I’ve decided to just share the top three tips that help me tackle and conquer my own schedule. Hopefully you’ll find some of them helpful.
Work With Your Natural Inclinations
This is by far the most important thing to do, in my opinion. We are not all the same, and I believe we’re all pre-disposed (hard-wired) to a certain way of doing things. Fighting our natural state *always* leads to frustration, and rarely garners good results. So before you decide *what* you need to tackle, decide how you can do so within the boundaries of your own natural tendencies.
I’m a very routine oriented person. I thrive on knowing that for the most part, the same thing needs to happen at the same time on the same day every week/month. So for me, scheduling in specific writing times every day works. I have a few friends who are exactly the opposite – routines kill their motivation to do anything, so a set daily writing time would be the kiss of death for their stories. Instead, they make more flexible goals – even “write something today” is a valid goal for someone like that, because you have all day to get it done, and no set word limit. Obviously there are plenty of people who will fall in between those two extremes (write 5 pages today, write 5 pages this morning), but the point is to find out how you personally work best, and then make sure you use that to your advantage. Don’t try to fit into a mold made for another personality type. It won’t work, and you won’t be happy or able to work efficiently.
Tough Love – Banish Distractions
Some of you just groaned when you read that heading. “But I need my twitter fix! We write together!” you cry. And I’m right there with you, because I love Twitter just as much as anyone else. We all like to think that we are world-class multi-taskers, and some of us are (see above). But we are cheating both ourselves and our story if we let them share the stage with all 2k of our twitter friends, chattering on in the background (this goes for Facebook, other social networks and email too). You have to get tough with yourself, and when you’re ready to write, post a snippet to twitter that you are #amwriting and will check in later, then *close Twitter* until you’re done.
Yes, I said close the program. Or browser. Whatever it is you use to keep track of your friends with, close it. No cheating with your phone or tablet. The only thing open on your screen when you’re writing are your notes, and your word processing program. Need to research something? Make a note and do it *after* your writing session, not during.
This is a very hard thing, as we’ve all practically lost the ability to focus on one thing for more than 5 minutes at a time. But once you get used to it, I dare say your productivity will go up. And you’ll have the added bonus of re-training your brain to focus on a single task again, which you can then apply to other things if you’re so inclined. I sincerely believe that any personality type can learn to do this – but it takes strength and determination, and that’s entirely up to you.
Keep Moving
An object in motion tends to stay in motion – that’s one of Newton’s laws, and it applies just as much to getting things done as it does to physics. Counterintuitive as it sounds, it’s far easier to keep moving forward if you just don’t stop. Obviously we all need breaks, but be wary of the never-ending “break”. The longer you stay still, the harder it is to get started again – if you get going at all.
My advice is to multi-task where you can (ie, watching TV is “downtime”, but you can be doing book promotion or writing blog posts while you watch), and then schedule (yes, even non-schedulers) time when you don’t have to do *anything*. The trick here is to employ that tough love when your scheduled break time is over, and get back to work. If you’re not routine oriented, then let yourself randomly choose something to do, but do *something* when break time is over (I’d advise even non-schedulers to keep a random list, so you can just point and go if need be).
There you have it. These are the principles that I base all of my organization on. When I fall behind or things get out of whack, I can almost guarantee that I’ve gone against one of these things, and I need to regroup and put that into play again before I can move forward.
Are you routine-driven, or do schedules make you break out in hives? Leave a comment and share some of the ways you keep yourself on track, and how it works with your particular personality.
[/caption]When Johanna invited me to do this post, I didn’t think it would be all that difficult. I’m a very routine-driven person, so even though it may look cluttery on the surface, I’ve generally got a handle on what I’m doing or need to do. Should be easy to whip up a post on how I keep everything straight, right?
Yeah, not so much.
One problem I’ve been having is that even seeing snippets of my schedule tends to intimidate most people (and frankly, laying it all out end to end intimidates me too – I normally take it a bite at a time). Using myself as an example is almost never a good idea, because people focus on the *what* instead of on the *how*. So I’ve decided to just share the top three tips that help me tackle and conquer my own schedule. Hopefully you’ll find some of them helpful.
Work With Your Natural Inclinations
This is by far the most important thing to do, in my opinion. We are not all the same, and I believe we’re all pre-disposed (hard-wired) to a certain way of doing things. Fighting our natural state *always* leads to frustration, and rarely garners good results. So before you decide *what* you need to tackle, decide how you can do so within the boundaries of your own natural tendencies.
I’m a very routine oriented person. I thrive on knowing that for the most part, the same thing needs to happen at the same time on the same day every week/month. So for me, scheduling in specific writing times every day works. I have a few friends who are exactly the opposite – routines kill their motivation to do anything, so a set daily writing time would be the kiss of death for their stories. Instead, they make more flexible goals – even “write something today” is a valid goal for someone like that, because you have all day to get it done, and no set word limit. Obviously there are plenty of people who will fall in between those two extremes (write 5 pages today, write 5 pages this morning), but the point is to find out how you personally work best, and then make sure you use that to your advantage. Don’t try to fit into a mold made for another personality type. It won’t work, and you won’t be happy or able to work efficiently.
Tough Love – Banish Distractions
Some of you just groaned when you read that heading. “But I need my twitter fix! We write together!” you cry. And I’m right there with you, because I love Twitter just as much as anyone else. We all like to think that we are world-class multi-taskers, and some of us are (see above). But we are cheating both ourselves and our story if we let them share the stage with all 2k of our twitter friends, chattering on in the background (this goes for Facebook, other social networks and email too). You have to get tough with yourself, and when you’re ready to write, post a snippet to twitter that you are #amwriting and will check in later, then *close Twitter* until you’re done.
Yes, I said close the program. Or browser. Whatever it is you use to keep track of your friends with, close it. No cheating with your phone or tablet. The only thing open on your screen when you’re writing are your notes, and your word processing program. Need to research something? Make a note and do it *after* your writing session, not during.
This is a very hard thing, as we’ve all practically lost the ability to focus on one thing for more than 5 minutes at a time. But once you get used to it, I dare say your productivity will go up. And you’ll have the added bonus of re-training your brain to focus on a single task again, which you can then apply to other things if you’re so inclined. I sincerely believe that any personality type can learn to do this – but it takes strength and determination, and that’s entirely up to you.
Keep Moving
An object in motion tends to stay in motion – that’s one of Newton’s laws, and it applies just as much to getting things done as it does to physics. Counterintuitive as it sounds, it’s far easier to keep moving forward if you just don’t stop. Obviously we all need breaks, but be wary of the never-ending “break”. The longer you stay still, the harder it is to get started again – if you get going at all.
My advice is to multi-task where you can (ie, watching TV is “downtime”, but you can be doing book promotion or writing blog posts while you watch), and then schedule (yes, even non-schedulers) time when you don’t have to do *anything*. The trick here is to employ that tough love when your scheduled break time is over, and get back to work. If you’re not routine oriented, then let yourself randomly choose something to do, but do *something* when break time is over (I’d advise even non-schedulers to keep a random list, so you can just point and go if need be).
There you have it. These are the principles that I base all of my organization on. When I fall behind or things get out of whack, I can almost guarantee that I’ve gone against one of these things, and I need to regroup and put that into play again before I can move forward.
Are you routine-driven, or do schedules make you break out in hives? Leave a comment and share some of the ways you keep yourself on track, and how it works with your particular personality.
