Hey People,
Today’s post accompany’s video # 8 in the Write with Tracee 52 Week Challenge. Hopefully things are going good and you’re making some progress on your writing, not just your writing but the mechanics, space, technology and other factors that help you get into the writer’s mindset and reach the main goal: words on the page. This was supposed to be titled Creating a Writing Schedule and it is in here too, but I had to change course a little because anyone can create a schedule but what people are really interested in, (I think) is how you arrive at doing the most with what time you have?
Some of the things I’ve been particularly interested in is Productivity. In my video, I express that I do feel like I personally make very good use of my time, and I do find people asking how do I get so much done. I’m not sure that I work that much faster but I learned some things to try to be more efficient and I feel that might make a difference.
In the talks that I give, I often say that one of things that makes a difference for writers is knowing what KIND of writer you are. In fiction, we say all the time Pantser or Plotter and I’m so surprised most don’t know (in the audience) what this means. Pantsers? They sit down and write. Plotters take time to outline and can’t get started without a solid handle on what they’re doing and where they are going in the story without this added step. The beauty is there is not right or wrong way. Plotters, my analogies return, write with a map in a death grip. “Pantsers” just drive (sometimes not even sure if there is gas in the tank) LOL. In my writing class I talk about pros and cons of each and I won’t belabor those here, but I say that to say find out what YOU are so YOU can do THAT.
This same thing is true for issues around productivity in that if you know when you feel your best, e.g. amped up, ready to go, you have the energy, you’re excited and you’re in the zone and it’s no struggle at all to get started, you are already on fire and chomping at bit? What can you do to figure this out for yourself.
First you should take the productivity assessment. You can find that here –
In Chris Bailey’s book, he talks about really taking time to study and write down your schedule for a specific time period, (say a week) and while you’re noting things like energy level, productivity and other aspects, it is in that information that you will begin to uncover where your Sparkle Time is. This is just a phrase that I think I came up with, it really comes from RnB singer Kelly Price’s, song titled Shine. Love that song. My point is for me, for instance, as soon as I get home, one might think, I’m tired and I just want to eat dinner, spend time with family and just chill before it’s bed time. Does anyone really do this that has a business other than their regular work?
This is rarely the case for me, when I get home, I am so excited to be out of the office and ready for my home office where I feel magic happens. It sounds a little crazy but I like my office, I like the lay out, I picked all the furniture, it’s accessible to me, I feel comfortable and can spend a lot of time here. I get into it and I’m just ready to go. I bring up the aesthetics about the office because finding your sparkle time is not enough. There are two more important things that I just said above, and that’s
1. The right space – don’t be unhappy about your space. You have to feel comfortable and I realize it requires funds to make it the way you want.
You will be surprised at the number of stuff people give away so ask around if you need that better chair, or desk and etc. A friend of mine was throwing out her fridge because it leaked and by the time she left to take the fridge to the dumpster, she brought back the fridge with her. I asked her, why didn’t you throw it out. She said oh so and so saw me in the hall and said “Hey, do you need a fridge?” I was like wow. There are many instances like this. Stuff is out there and go just sit in the chair you need at the office store, FIND, BARTER, ASK for the stuff. You can’t feel comfortable and inspired if your space is not what/where/how you want it. Thrift-stores, second-hand shops are also great places. People really do give away perfect stuff. Also ask Facebook and look on your local neighborhood sites for free on the street, up-cycling type resources.
2. The other important thing is frankly, do you feel confident in your abilities to do what you’ve set out to do?
I may not be the greatest, most wonderful, NYT, USAT bestselling author, not yet at least, but I still feel confident. Confidence does come with the more books you write but I’m also speaking of confidence in the sense that you have the right things, the tools you do have, work for you?
I have the space, I have the tools, a computer, I’m a very good typist, I have good lighting that I like but those are mechanics and aesthetics, and yes, those things make a huge difference, but when I pull up to the desk, I’m not fretting, I do pray often to be blessed and be a blessing within whatever I write, but I’m never personally anxious about my abilities to do this, to work with the tools, and the process. This is different if thinking about whether or not people like you/your work. Those things are standard and you need to work hard to throw out those kinds of naysayers too. AND guess what, if you have passion and desire, that can be all you need, you need to channel that energy into getting everything else that you require to do the writing you (say) want, so I never want to make it seem like you can’t do stuff without all this material you need, I guess part of what I’m trying to say is your ability to have confidence over your tools and not just pulling up and hoping your computer turns on, that you can find, open and save the word doc., that it won’t crash and lose all your hard effort. Are you electronics are up to date, you’re not fretting about stuff crashing, and imploding AND confidence that you can work everything properly. NOTHING kills creativity more than frustration with the things you need. So passion is present, yes, you can do it, but hopefully that passion will bleed into wanting to find a way to also get the tools you need.
Moreover, I will say ensure you have things you need really to prevent injury, repetitive motions so your posture (spine/back), feet rests (feet, ankles, and legs) and your line of vision (head/neck) and your hands/wrists-arm rests are all also very comfortable because this will limit your ability to desire to stick with it. This is important for the longer term, which affects a largely sedentary kind of job we writers have; even temperature is something to think about in your space. Do you need a space heater (or fan)? Do you need more layers as muscles and joints and things really lock up if it’s too cold. I realize part of this section should be put under number one above, however, I would say that if things aren’t just right around you, this can make you feel less than so an inadequate space to “perform” can have a negative effect on your output as oppose to a great space. Try to make it happen.
3. What you consume? No one ever really talks about diet, and I hate talking about diet too. But I’m fortunate in that I have someone that could make me a really nice send-off meal before work. What a wonderful thing, right? Nope. I choose more often NOT to have that meal. I’m gonna keep it real, that meal will mess me up. I know for a fact how I respond to larger meals in the morning. I don’t avoid breakfast, I do need it or I’ll pass out. But I opt for something that’s not so heavy. In order to have energy after a full day’s work, I can’t eat grits and bacon and eggs in the morning. You’d be surprised if you’d pay more attention to how you feel after eating something and that might be worth noting in the schedule you’re going to track for the week.
Finally, about my writing time. One of the things I noticed when my full time work went to part time in the summer 2019, is simply how easy it was to let time slip away doing everything except writing, and how much I needed that outside space, go to place in order to feel productive and to get input.
I shared my schedule in the video, and for the most part, much of my writing happens on my best two off days a week, nights and weekends. There are also other snatches of time that I take very seriously as far as ensuring I’m not idle, and using them to the fullest extent. E.g. waiting in line, waiting for things to start, sitting in the lobby at appointments. I am never without my phone and as such I often use the talk to text function and get at minimum 600 words and at maximum 2000 words down at a time. Wherever I am, I keep talking and it outputs my voice to text. I also go over whatever I’ve come up with, reading it aloud and adding to passages. I usually open this in email and I will send it to myself and copy/paste it into the master word document when I get home.
Tracee’s Schedule
Monday – Wednesday (regular job outside home)
7:30 – 9:30 a.m.
Devotion
Getting ready for work
Breakfast
Out the Door
10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. WORK, WORK
5:30 / 45 – 7:00 p.m.
Dinner
TV – evening news
Decompress
May be able to get some writing in till bed time, but don’t force myself
THURSDAY / FRIDAY
8:00 – 10:00 a.m.
up/dress / Devotion
Checking Email
Breakfast
Cleaning/Readying / Fixing stuff around house
10:30 a.m.
Writing work
Email / Planning / Lead Generation
Designing in Canva for Work/Social Media, etc.
Working on both fiction and nonfiction book (not at the same time but a few hours on each one)
5:00 p.m.
Dinner/Rest/Time with Family
Shows I like ONLY DVR’d
Evening news
6:00 – 7:00 p.m.
7 – 11 p.m. MOST PRODUCTIVE WRITING TIME
SATURDAY / SUNDAY
EVENTS – mostly on Saturdays with a few Sunday events
CHURCH – Most Sundays
WRITING AFTER THE EVENTS
– most events where I’m “ON” as I explain in the video, I can’t expect to do much more than that event, so after, I need time to decompress and chill, not talking much, watch shows – Might plan some social media posts which is pretty non heavy thinking most of the time
– Sunday nights – try to plan week full of social media and upload it on platforms
A couple of things that make my situation unique – I have a caregiver which I’ve mentioned and when they come to work, to help me, I have to go work with them and that means cutting short some of my most productive time -at night- and while this can be frustrating it’s something that I’ve learned to manage and that means for my time being sucked away, I need to make it up. What I also do to even take advantage of this is to send myself the last paragraph I have written to my email. Once I am in bed, I can use the mic / talk to text function again and keep going. Yes, I may have lost some momentum but for the most part, but I can usually get it back and more often than not, I choose not to do this, I just realize I need to stop but I send it to myself often as you just never know what will happen – and caffeine intake for the day plays a role in how fast and how long I’ll be sleeping, so I might as well do something productive, if I’m not going to be able to get up.
My off days are Thursday/Friday (In the video I said Tuesday/Thursday it is Thursday/Friday, apologies)
One of the things I don’t know for sure and I honestly don’t think it matters and that is simply am I really a night writer? I mean was my time chosen born out of necessity rather than freedom to choose. MAYBE, I kind of stuffed myself into the time frame that worked for me and instead of being free to do my own thing. There isn’t an issue with this, that I can see. This might be the case for you too with a spouse and a kid, etc. At the end of the day, it’s about whatever you have. Can you adapt to staying up later after your kids are in bed – in fact that’s how many writers write, when first starting out.
Just to recap Finding Your Sparkle Time or Productivity Peak
- Study what you’re doing for an entire week. Write it all down, list the times and then write what you did and be truthful especially about time you spent looking for something or watching tv or eating junk
- Review your schedule, are there pockets that you could be more efficient -getting stuff done faster; are their items you can delegate to someone else, are their routines you need to put in place, could you be writing in this time or space or is it going to be strictly prohibited? Why?
- Study the time log for places where you seem to have gotten tons done – You may want to even track your mood along with this, feeling tired or just out of it or feeling extra upbeat, maybe after a gym session, could you even do some writing while you’re walking on the treadmill, they have the TV there, what if you used the talk to text function on your phone, instead? And yes listening to a book is good too but we’re trying to find writing time.
- Those pockets when you got a lot done, consider trying to write in that time frame and then log that. Do you like that time? Does it work? Were you able to accomplish a lot of writing? Did it just come naturally or did it require unnatural forces? Did it feel easy and seem like the right place/time. Any other details that you want to add?
- When you have found the time, you PUT IT ON the schedule in the pocket you found. You try this new way and you tweak it as you go along and you just keep looking, digging and searching for more and more pockets to add to your base. If you’re feeling really ambitious, say you find an extra two hours somewhere or you rearrange things enough to give you extra hours, you can do a similar project to determine your best word count, or if you already know, assign a word count for your new found time.
One of the things I didn’t talk about in the video, and that subsequently came to me later, is what if you do all this and you feel like you fail at identifying your personal sparking time (productivity peak)?
Some tips are –
- Try to revisit the list above at another time. Sometimes it’s just not the right time, something may be going on, you’re distracted
- Examine other factors such as stress, even miscommunications and errors with others in your family doesn’t inspire writing and finding time and ensure your understands how important this is to YOU and how they can support you.
- Continue to work at your current pace -if you’re able to get writing done at any time, great, you may not need tweaking at all – if you’re able to get it done but there are more interruptions and you write through some fatigue, examining whether this really works and also think about the quality of your writing – if it’s stellar, great, whatever your method, it’s working. If it’s not, perhaps a more energetic time find is worth another attempt at review
- Think about your environment and things like seasonal disorders, mental health and other things – I don’t personally feel my best in winter months, I feel sluggish, fatigue, depressed, and that’s okay. I have managed that with focusing on a specific project about October that gets me through the winter, so you should speak with a doctor to ensure there are deeper underlying issues (I am NOT a doctor) – also getting out and meeting writer types where sometimes, keeping it real, we get to bitch about parts of the biz that suck. it’s an outlet and then we do writing sprints and I come away from that feeling inspired and energetic. So think about getting out!
- Finally, remember that words on the page matter most. However you got them there, at whatever time, with whatever method they appeared = words that you can read, edit, and ultimately use. You can’t do anything with zero words, and if you don’t care about methods and peaks, good on you, please continue.
Share some of your productivity peak tips in the comments.
