October 29, 2024

Ultimate Guide to Writing More: Time Management for Writers

0  comments

People are astonished when I tell them how many books I've written. And it's not even that many, when you compare it to a lot of full-time writers. But let's just say, I do  my best to write until the project is done.

How do I do it? Well, it comes down to time management.

In this article, I want to teach you some of my tricks and techniques for managing time as a writer, getting motivated to write, and making sure that you carve out the time you need to put words on the screen.

Use a Timer

Have you heard of the Pomodoro Technique? Work 25 minutes, rest for 5 minutes. Repeat a handful of times, then take a 25 minute break. Then, the entire cycle repeats. Pomodoro timers are classic time management tool, and as a writer, you can take advantage of its power.

Using fixed intervals of time gives you an arena to exercise your creative brain.

How I use timers to manage my writing sessions

Whenever I feel resistance on a writing project (which is often!), a little voice kicks in and says, "Just do it for 20 minutes."

And that's how I know to set a timer.

I personally use Toggl; I like seeing the report that shows how much time I spent on a writing project! Then I compare across all similar projects and see how I can improve my time management techniques.

Twenty minutes isn't the "real" Pomodoro technique. For me, twenty minutes is "it doesn't matter" time. Long enough that I don't feel bad about wasting it. Short enough to do a task without feeling constrained by other, more pressing activities.

For those twenty minutes, my only focus is the novel in question.

Here's the key part - and don't skip over this: Don't focus on increasing word count. Focus on making progress.

Progress for you might mean word count, or it might be stitching two sections together, or it might mean reducing word count.

When the timer goes off, record what you achieved in that block of time.

Then, in the next twenty minute session, my mission is to achieve just as much as in the previous session. That might be a word count goal I'm trying to meet within those twenty minutes or it could be the feeling of achievement I get when I'm refining a character or scene.

Rinse and repeat. Because it's all about micro-achievement with timers and time management.

Novels can be a slog. Remember - writing is work, it's not always effortless! Create achievable goals to give you fuel to keep going even when you don't feel like it.

TAKEAWAY

Focus on making progress on your writing project with timers instead of chasing impossible, unachievable word count goals.

Prioritization in Time Management

I admit, this is hard. Setting achievable goals doesn't always get easier with time. How best to use the time you have is a battle you'll face each day as life ebbs and flows.

Knowing how to prioritize well can help you defeat procrastination: prioritization's dark reflection.

How I figure out what to do next

We have two weapons to wield when prioritizing our tasks. In the form of questions, they are:

  • What do I need to do first?
  • Which task is most important?

These dual tools are not mutually exclusive; one doesn't necessarily lead to another. There exists a tertiary question, which is:

  • What am I okay with NOT getting done (today)?

We may replace "today" with the time frame appropriate to the situation.

I will go through my writing to-do list with these three questions in mind as I approach a writing project. This helps me narrow down my focus to one or two areas of the manuscript.

TAKEAWAY

Decide priorities now to defeat procrastination later.

Time Blocking for Writers

What is time blocking?

Time blocking is a scheduling method where we section off part of our calendar for a particular task or activity. It helps us commit our precious time to taking a desired action. Hopefully that desired action is writing. Or something that engenders writing.

Ideally, time blocking makes it harder for us to schedule conflicting activities.

How I use time blocking and scheduling for writing

I find this method works best in tandem with setting a timer. Think of the timer as the tool to achieving the larger time block to which you've committed yourself.

I use Reclaim.ai to set habits and tasks for myself on a calendar. When I need to, I adjust the writing habit to suit my changing schedule. Having it in there reminds me that I have a mission to complete.

I've also used the task feature to set up large writing projects for myself, and the AI will arrange writing blocks in my calendar in the duration of my choosing (usually one or two hours a piece). If I don't complete a certain block, I'll tell it and the AI will rearrange the calendar based on the deadline I give it. This is an effective way to complete writing and the other projects I have on the go.

(I do find with Reclaim and Google, if an event is cancelled and then "remade", it's not smart enough to know that, so that's where you're seeing overlap in the example above! You have to delete the event in Google.)

If you don't want to use an automatic scheduler, you can also input recurring blocks into your Google or Outlook calendar, and turn on notifications to let you know when it's time to put your butt in a chair to work. Blocking it off in my calendar, however it's done, means I'll feel a sense of guilt if a conflict arises, and I might be more likely to work on my writing rather than go out with friends or choose a leisure activity.

TAKEAWAY

Take control of your calendar. Schedule appointments with your writing project.

Break Down the Writing

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the thought of writing 50,000 words?

Or maybe 'just' 2,000 words?

The best thing to do is: break it down.

How I chunk my writing and writing-related tasks

About one-third or one-half of the way into the manuscript, I reach a point where I become overwhelmed with amount of work ahead of me.

This is how I know I need to break down my goals into more manageable tasks or chunks. If I don't do this, I will continue to feel overwhelmed. I can't afford to be overwhelmed. I only have one life to live, and I'm busy.

What the breakdown looks like varies from project to project. At it's easiest, instead of telling myself "I have to write 50,000 words," I'll say, "I just have to write 100 words today."

And then you only think about today's words.

And if that doesn't work?

Usually though, things are more complicated. So I'll use a recent example from a manuscript I've been noodling away on.

I am halfway through a first draft of a novel (about 50K out of a projected 100K) and I've reached an impasse. I have an outline, I know what's going to happen, but some of the details are still a bit fuzzy, and now my characters are alive and they're saying and doing things I haven't accounted for.

First, I have to take stock of the situation. Where am I now? What has been done?

Second, I have to look at what's ahead. This is the scary part, because it's daunting. What parts haven't been written yet? Where are my biggest gaps? Am I missing any research? I write all of this down, judgement free.

Third, I identify what scares me the most. This is the hardest part, because we don't like feeling scared. What scares me the most is usually the same each time:

  • Previously unidentified plot holes
  • Imposter syndrome ("This part sucks and no one will believe that I'm a good writer if they see this")
  • Description details that I haven't filled in yet

Fourth, I ask myself, "How can I break down what scares me most?" 

Creating "scary writing tasks"

Breaking down the enemy into smaller, bite-sized enemies means they're easier to eat and destroy. Filling a plot hole can be a lot of work if it means re-writing a chunk of the story. But identifying all the steps to do so, and breaking them down into the smallest actions, goes a long way. You don't have to eat the entire enemy today or even tomorrow. Having the action steps in hand for when you're ready to face even the smallest portion can help your future self slay what taunts you.

For example, to fill a plot hole, I might create the following tasks for myself:

  • Write down what feels wrong about the plot
  • Identify all parts of the novel that touch this plot hole
  • Brainstorm how I can fix each part with minimal effort
  • Identify the section of the work that will require the most effort
  • Set a twenty-minute timer to work on plot hole

By the time I get to the timer, I'm usually anxious but determined to face the problem, even if I don't have all the answers.

And if you're still anxious about all of the tasks before you, now is the time to engage in the next tip, one of my favourites for conquering my writing to-do list.

TAKEAWAY

Break down large writing goals and identify where you're blocked. Be honest about what's holding you back from putting words to paper.

Rate the Task Anxiety

It sounds silly, but identifying how scary a task is helps me do it!

This is best done once you have an idea of every element you need to tackle in a writing project, or in a particular part of the project (as in the previous section). When I'm setting goals, I also employ this exercise, because it helps ground me in reality.

How I make myself do hard things

Once I have my task list before me, whether they are listed in a physical book or a digital space, I'll thoughtfully go through each item. From a scale of one to three, I rate the task based on the way it scares me, with a one being "not very scary", a two being "somewhat scary" and a three being "I really don't want to do this because it freaks me out."

If I judge an activity to take less than a half hour AND it scares me to death, I try to do it first (unless there's an imminent deadline that prevents me from choosing the scary task).

Once completed, and again if there's no imminent deadline, I will reward myself for doing a hard thing by doing something not scary afterward.

Sometimes, because I've conquered a fear and I find (usually!) there was little to be afraid of in the first place, I have the courage to complete a second hard thing. It's important to get scary, hard things off my plate, especially if they don't take very long and they're important. Usually this is an email or a phone call that stands in the way, but is still related to my creative work.

TAKEAWAY

Rank your tasks by how they make you feel. It will help you identify the "frog" you should eat first!

Create your Success in the Environment

Setting yourself up for success is an often overlooked part of managing your productivity as a writer. Like, we all want our friends to succeed, and we encourage them, right?

But we don't often extend the same courtesy to ourselves.

One of the best ways to do this is to create an environment where success is possible for you. Usually this means:

  • Removing temptations and distractions from your preferred writing arena
  • Creating an optimized writing space
  • All of the above

Removing distractions so you can write

Chasing the next best thing or indulging in shiny object syndrome behaviour just wastes your time. It's fun once in a while to escape into fantasy - after all, that's how we creators make new things. But doing this every day doesn't move our most important work forward.

Spend some time figuring out the biggest distractions in your day and attempt to mitigate them. For me, that's blocking time with my cats at specified times so they don't interrupt me otherwise and attempting to tidy the desk once a week so the papers don't pile up!

Creating an optimized writing space

If you can't remove distractions, and you are having trouble optimizing your home space, you might want to consider creating an alternative ritual or place for writing somewhere else. This might mean going to your local coffee shop, library, or other quiet place to work on your masterpiece.

How I've created my own environment for success

If my office isn't cutting it, I will book private rooms in my local library (it's free!) to work for a couple of hours. I've also sat in coffee shops. Sometimes two hours in a different location is enough to inject a fresh perspective into the work.

Don't just think about your physical environment. Your digital environment is important too. I will uninstall Steam if I'm on an important deadline so I'm not tempted by computer games. I will turn on anti-distraction apps in my browser to limit scrolling. I'll put my phone in a different place so I'm not tempted to open other apps.

Honestly, this also works great with the timer tip; by keeping the timer app open on a second screen and/or on my phone reminds me that I'm on a time crunch, which makes me less likely to distract myself!

TAKEAWAY

Your environment can change how you feel. Take control of your surroundings so they don't take control of you!

Make it a Game

The ultimate weapon against un-fun work - even un-fun writing - is to turn your activities into a game.

Don't overthink it. The time tracker trick above? That's a game I play with myself. The object of the game is to match or beat my previous time.

The biggest question to ask yourself is, "How can I make the task before me more fun?"

How I turn hard things into a game

I have a whole YouTube channel about using tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) and solo RPG techniques to create and write stories. Everything I talk about there has helped me write when I didn't feel like it.

TAKEAWAY

Gamification can be a powerful tool.

Closing Thoughts on Time Management

Sometimes I look at writing I did twenty years ago, when I was a teenager. And hey, it can be cringey, but I wrote a lot. I didn't have access to much TV. I had a strict, limited time with all of my schoolwork and extra curriculars. And yet, I wrote three 120K word novels.

It wasn't through sheer force of will that I wrote them. Although that plays a role. It happened because it was important to me, I made the time, the environment set me up for success, and I wanted to make my future self proud.

But NONE of these tricks work for me!

It's possible you've "heard all of this advice before" and "none of it works." And hey, I get it! It's easy to give advice when something works for you, or has worked for you in the past. I can only recommend what I've tried and has worked for me. As you are not me, some of this might not work for you!

Feel free to recommend your own time management writing tips in the comments so we can help each other 🙂

Related Posts:

Hey, I'm Clare!

Clare C. Marshall is the author/publisher behind Faery Ink Press. She blogs monthly about writing, publishing, marketing, and productivity at cmarshallpublishing.com.


Want to know more? Learn about the journey here.

{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}

Follow me on my publishing journey!

Sign up for my newsletter to receive notifications of new blog posts each month as well as other useful information related to writing, publishing, and marketing.

>