Peak Productivity Part Four

By: J.T. Evans

This is the fourth and final installment of Peak Productivity. The first, second, and third parts are already posted.

Idle Your Engine

You obviously can’t be productive every moment of your day/week/month/life. Attempting to do this will lead to a miserable life, and will only burn you out on the concept of writing. This will, of course, kill your productivity, and that’s not what we want to happen.

You need to, from time-to-time, step away from the keyboard (or pen) and let your brain run at a slower pace. You’ll be amazed at the ideas that spring forth when you’re not actively thinking about your prose. Again, be prepared to capture these moments with a handy pen and notebook.

Things you can do that idle your brain:

     

•     Laundry
•        Dishes
•        Vacuum
•        Change the oil in your car yourself
•        Go for a countryside drive with the windows down and music blaring
•        Shovel some snow
•        Walk the dog (or alone if you're dog-less)
•        Play with your children
•       Talk with your spouse
•        Do a repetitive craft with your hands

Tracking Progress

Another thing I learned from Mur’s podcast relates to this wonderful creation called The Magic Spreadsheet. You can earn points for each consecutive day in which you write. If you miss a day, you reset back to zero points and start over. You can create different awards for yourself for attaining more points. Set up larger rewards for larger point levels.

Some people will also buy a calendar and a whole bunch of stickers of various sizes. For a day where the words come easily and you get lots done, you'll get a large sticker (or maybe two large stickers) on that day. If you get a little bit done, you get some little stickers. No word? No sticker! A quick glance at the calendar can remind of you of how well you're doing and this can help push you forward in your writing. No need to track those pesky word counts. Just look at the stickers and know you're doing well.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are tons of ways Real Life can get in the way. There are also ways you can get in your own way. There are methods to battle these distractions, and also approaches to increase your productivity when you write.

I hope this (rather lengthy) series of blog posts has been useful to my fellow writers. If you have any tips or tricks of your own, please drop them in the comments.

About the Author:  J.T. Evans writes fantasy novels. He also dabbles with science fiction and horror short stories. He is the president of Pikes Peak Writers. When not writing, he keeps computers secure at the Day Job, homebrews great beers, spends time with his family, and plays way too many card/board/role-playing games.

Peak Productivity (Part 2)

Editor’s Note: Last Monday, January 11^th, Writing from the Peak repeated a series given at the 2013 Pikes Peak Writers Conference by J.T. Evans and Cindi Madsen on Time Management and Productivity. The information was so well-received we wanted to share it with members who may not have had an opportunity to attend the conference. 

Part 2 of Peak Productivity

You can find the first part of this series here.

Schedule Time

Stealing moments of time is great, but if you can schedule time, even better. As a writer, you are a small business. Yes, you are also an artist, but remove that “artist hat” for a moment, and put on the “business hat."

As a one-person small business, you have to treat your writing like it’s a job. Sure, it might be a part-time job for some of you and a full-time job for others. Whatever the case may be, jobs come with meetings. We all hate them because we feel horribly unproductive while sitting in a conference room talking about the latest paradigm shift instead of being at our desks doing what we do best.

In this case, putting something down on your calendar can pull you away from your Real Life distractions (the dishes can wait) and put you in a place where you can get some words down on paper.

Make meetings for yourself in your calendar. Stick to those meetings. If something non-essential comes up during your meeting, decline it. Tell people, “Sorry, I have a meeting.” If you want, you can tell them it’s to write, but you don’t have to. If you stick to the line I’ve given you, people will understand and know you are busy at that time.

If you get to the meeting early, or if you stay late after the meeting is over, reward yourself. Maybe you get to go to the movies on Friday night, or have a date night with your spouse. Perhaps you get to buy that book you’ve been eagerly awaiting. Maybe it’s a spa day or just a candy bar from the local corner store. Set up appropriate awards for yourself that reflect how much of a “dedicated employee” you’ve been while working for your small business.

If you are late to a meeting or miss one entirely, then it’s time for punishment. Think about what your boss might do to you. Maybe it’s more work or additional meetings (e.g.: additional writing time). Maybe you don’t get to go to the movie. Maybe you don’t see it at all until it’s out on DVD. Maybe you have to get black coffee at the coffee shop instead of a frappachino. Maybe you call your massage place and cancel your appointment for next week. While you’re not going to the movies or getting a massage, guess what you’ll be doing? That’s right! You’ll be writing! (See how that works out?)

Reduce External Interruptions

When you’ve scheduled that meeting with yourself, get rid of external interruptions. These are (usually) things out of your control that try to steal the time you’ve made for yourself. Some of these are within your control, so grab them by the neck and wrangle them to your will.

Here are my tips for reducing external interruptions:

• Close the door. (if you have an office or bedroom to use)
• Put a sign on the door warning people away.
• Go somewhere else.

o   Coffee Shop

o   Library

                  o   A mostly vacant diner late at night

• Turn the ringer off on your phone. (Don't even let it vibrate)
• Turn off the WiFi on your laptop. (The Internet will still be there when you're done with your meeting, I promise.)

Most of these are establishing solitude. However, don’t become a hermit. You still need to have fun with family/friends and socialize. Balance your life.

Reduce Internal Interruptions

Internal interruptions are more destructive to the time you’ve made than anything else. These are things you do to yourself to keep from writing. I’m not talking about writer’s block. I’m talking about activities you actively engage in that distract you from your writing.

Again, turn off the Internet. If you need it for research then avoid:

Facebook
Twitter
Tumblr
Pinterest
Email
Not vital research
         

o   Avoid rabbit holes

o   Set a timer to limit research

About the Author: J.T. Evans writes fantasy novels. He also dabbles with science fiction and horror short stories. He is the president of Pikes Peak Writers. When not writing, he keeps computers secure at the Day Job, homebrews great beers, spends time with his family, and plays way too many card/board/role-playing games.

Peak Productivity

By: J.T. Evans

Editor's Note: For the next four Mondays, Writing from the Peak will host a four-part series on time management. The blogs will include tips and actual events that may help you make the most of yours. 

If you've been keeping up with Writing from the Peak you know that we ended 2015 discussing stress, ways to increase our writing time, and advance our careers. Ideally, now that we've turned the calendar to 2016, you're ready to set goals. A big part of achieving those goals is through time management. Today I begin a four-part series on the subject. Some of you might recognize this as material that Author Cindi Madsen and I presented at the 2013 Pikes Peak Writers Conference. Fortunately, unlike our computers, the thread of time management never requires new software updates. To be successful, writing or not, people need to engage in effective time management.

The series will cover the following topics:

·       Make Time

·       Flashback to 2010

·       Stolen Moments

·       Schedule Time

·       Reduce External Interruptions

·       Reduce Internal Interruptions

·       Idle Your Engine

·       Increase Your Productivity

·       External Motivations

·       Internal Motivations

·       Magic Spreadsheet

·       Conclusion

Make Time

You cannot find time.

It’s not a quarter on the ground waiting to be picked up. You are allotted the same 168 hours in a week that everyone else gets. There’s no way to get extra (except for maybe that pesky hour shift during daylight saving, but an extra hour a year won’t make a difference to anyone.) You have the same time as everyone else. What you make time to do is what matters. Every time I hear someone say, “I’d love to write, but I can’t find the time,” I grind my teeth.

If someone is truly passionate about an effort (writing, working, family, hobbies, or whatever), then they will make the time for it. The advice I'm giving is for those people with passion to write, but can’t seem to make the time in their lives.

The excuse of not having time falls in the same bucket as not being able to “find” time to do something. I just don’t buy it.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. I had the will, and I found the way. Let me show you something that's rather shocking:

Flashback to 2010

Activity	Hours per Week
Full-time graduate student	20
Full-time+, lead software engineer	45
President of a writing group	8
Webmaster of a writing group	8
Commute to/from work	8
Sleep (~6 hours per night)	42
Family (Wife + 2 year old son)	25
Writing	15

I’m not posting this chart to brag. I’m showing you this to illuminate how busy Real Life can be. I was left with a mere 15 hours each week to work on my writing. During this year, I started (and finished) a novel, and roughly a dozen short stories. This is not including the endless pages of critiques I did this year and the countless papers I had to write for my graduate degree.

Because of my busy life during 2010, when someone claims they can’t find the time to write, I call them out. Everyone can make the time to write if they are passionate enough about it.

Now to the meat of things. How do you go about making time to write?

Stolen Moments

You don’t have to block out hours on end for writing. You can steal moments from your life with which to write. This means being prepared to write at any location and at any time. Make sure you always have a writing device and some paper with you.

If you can, drag your typical writing implements with you everywhere. This can be your laptop if that’s your preferred writing method. At a minimum invest in a pen that is comfortable for your hand and a few Moleskin (or similar) notebooks. Keep one in your car. Keep another in your purse (for the ladies). Keep another in your office desk. Keep another in your back pocket if you can. Scatter them around your life. You never know when you’ll have a moment or five to write.

One winter, I hit a pretty hefty patch of ice and found myself up against a fence in a bar ditch. I couldn’t get out of my car, but I was unharmed. After calling my wife to let her know what happened, I called for a tow truck. They told me it would take about an hour for them to arrive. I pulled out my notebook and outlined five short story ideas. I didn’t get to write any of them at that moment as I was in “idea mode,” but it was still forward progress on my writing. This was a stolen moment for me.

Here are some places/times in which you can steal moments. These are all things where waiting and doing nothing is common.

·       Emergency Room

·       DMV

·       Lunch Break

·       Driving (voice only or percolate on your story)

·       Public Transportation

·       Oil Changes

·       Waiting on others

·       Auto repairs

·       Napping Baby

·       Child goes to bed early

Make sure to keep your laptop battery charged at all times. You never know when a moment will strike to write! Tune in Monday, January 18 for Part two.

About the Author:  J.T. Evans writes fantasy novels. He also dabbles with science fiction and horror short stories. He is the president of Pikes Peak Writers. When not writing, he keeps computers secure at the Day Job, homebrews great beers, spends time with his family, and plays way too many card/board/role-playing games.

Where I write

By: Stacy S. Jensen 

Where do I write?

Lately, it's been in a lot of places — the kitchen counter, the bench where I wait for my son after school, and a messy office.

Long ago, I abandoned the dream of having large blocks of time to write. I discovered that using any amount of time gradually adds to my manuscript. Maybe it's a sentence or just a word. Either way, they all those letters add up to a story.

The kitchen counter typically is my place for ideas. I capture information on my iPhone or on a notebook. I'm not super focused here. This is for quick, "trying to get that down before I forget" moments.

The bench is where I sit and revise. I print out the story I'm working on and will mark it up before the class arrives for dismissal. When it's warm, this works very well. Even if I only look at a paragraph, it's one more polished paragraph.

My messy office is where I keep my MacBook Pro. Since I work from home - doing website, volunteer, and writing work — my office is the home base.

My laptop sits on a wooden desk I received on my 30th birthday. It was a random gift, but the desk has survived death, moves, memoirs, lots of picture book manuscripts, and a toddler. Dust gathers at the back of it, but the front is covered in sticky notes and to do lists.

Eighty percent of my vomit drafts are written in the office on the laptop. The draft stays on my computer's cluttered desktop for a while, until I'm ready to revise where I create a folder for each story. Then, I fill that folder with each revised version. I'm still testing to see whether holding on to the revisions adds value to my writing process.

Since most of my writing is in the picture book genre — think 500 words or less — I spend a lot of time defending each word. Much of this work is completed on the go ... while running errands, in the shower, or right after my head hits the pillow. I send myself a lot of notes from my iPhone or via email.

I also recognize there are two places where I don't write, but they contribute to my writing experience and to my idea notebook — Facebook and my email inbox.

Calm down if you think I'm a Facebook hater. I LOVE Facebook. Some people watch cat videos; I look at my Facebook newsfeed to see updates about everyone's children. It's story gold for me.  I connect on Facebook with a bunch of super helpful writers, who share tips on the craft, agents, and support. However, I'm not writing when I'm doing this.

My email inbox is another area where I get a ton of ideas from blogs, writing organizations, and writers. However, managing my emails takes time away from writing.

So, I'm off to the office to write. Where will you be writing today?

About the Author: Stacy S. Jensen worked as a newspaper reporter and editor for two decades. Today, she writes picture books and revises a memoir manuscript. She lives in Colorado Springs with her husband and son.

Breaking Points: Life Management for Writers

By: Jason P. Henry

Life sucks.

There, I said it. Why bother wasting words?

Life is an unfair, argumentative, demeaning, uncooperative, pain in the eraser. I should just give up on all of my dreams, quit living in the clouds, focus on reality, and all the stress will just melt away. I need to stop wasting my time on this ridiculous idea of writing a novel and accept the fact that I am not meant to be more than just another face in the crowd. I can focus on my job more. I can spend more time with friends. My family, maybe I’ll get a little more time with them as well. All of my problems could magically disappear if I…

Just. Stopped. Writing.

I think it is safe to say that we have all been at this point more than once. Some days, it is hard enough to keep up with the demands of our jobs, friends, families, hobbies and health. It is all we can do to keep our heads above water, our bank accounts in the positive, and to make those around us feel loved. Then we decide that we also need time to write? 

Seriously?

If Life was a graphic novel, Creativity’s arch-nemesis would be Stress.

Unfortunately, the harsh reality is that there will always be stress. If you spend time trying to eliminate it, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. There will be days when the frustrations ebb, but there will always be something else waiting in the shadows to disrupt your peace of mind. So, the goal should not be to eliminate stress, but to learn how to manage it and lessen its impact on your productivity.

One of the phrases (excuses) that irritates me the most is “I don’t have time.” Yeah, you do. Every week you have seven days. Every day you have twenty-four hours. Every hour you have sixty minutes. That is 10,080 minutes every single week. YOU HAVE TIME. It’s the same amount of time that everyone else on this planet gets. Pick a name: George R. R. Martin? Stephen King? Danielle Steel? Brandon Sanderson? J. R. Ward? James Patterson? ALL of them get the same 10,080 minutes per week.

How many of you are saying “Jason Henry is an idiot, those people are successful authors. All they have to do is sit down and write.”

True (well, not the Jason Henry is an idiot part). They are all successful authors, but they haven’t always been. They’ve been where we are, struggling with reality, trying to find time to sit down and get their books written. Even now, published and recognized, they still have lives outside of their novels. They have to make the time to sit down and get their next bestseller finished.

I firmly believe that the key to success and coping with stress is time management.

I meet many people every day and I hear the words “I don’t have time” quite frequently. I’m very much a conversationalist so I usually ask about what they do and how they do it. And, quite often, I talk about myself. About what I do and how I do it. Many are surprised to learn how much I am involved with.

At this very moment, I am the Conference Director for the Pikes Peak Writers Conference. I also have a full-time job. I have a family. I have three active WIPs in three different genres. I write short stories. I have three blogs that I contribute to. I am partnering with someone to build a short story anthology. I am partnering with other folks to create a group that helps young writers. I am active on social media, I have a website, I have a dog, I like to hike, I’m a rock hound, I love music, and yeah, I only get the same 10,080 minutes in my week as everyone else.  

Trust me, I have reached my share of breaking points. I have smacked into brick walls so hard that I couldn’t move for days. Stress, that silent assassin, lurks in my shadows every day. So, when folks tell me they don’t have time, it is difficult to suppress my irritation. When they start complaining and saying “there’s no way,” I interrupt and I ask one simple question:

“How bad do you want it?”

The question is simple, but the answer is not. In fact, when I ask, most don’t have an answer for me.

Life has this funny way of making us work really hard for the things we want most. We are issued challenges daily and we must decide for ourselves if they hold us back or propel us forward. See, that stress that we keep trying to eliminate isn’t there to prevent us from realizing our dreams. It’s there to motivate us, to teach us, to make us better. When we learn how to manage that stress, well, that is when we truly break through and begin moving forward.

Decide how bad you want to be a writer. Then, sit down with your family and friends and explain to them how important it is. In that same conversation, remind them of how important they are. Then take a look at all the things you need to accomplish in a week. Create a schedule. Take those minutes I mentioned and begin dealing them out appropriately. Make sure to leave some time for the ones you love. Be certain to devote some time to writing. You may find you have an hour a night that you can spare, or maybe only a couple hours a week, but it is still time to write.

Be flexible. You can’t control life’s many demands no matter how detailed your schedule is. Work will demand extra hours. Kids will get sick. The unexpected will pop up. However, having that schedule will help you see where your time is and provide a road map for getting through the roughest of weeks. I think you will find that no matter how busy you are, you have more free time than you realize. Don’t let the stress cloud your vision and stop your momentum. Some weeks will be far more productive than others. A lower word count does not mean you were slacking, it means you were living. If we don’t live, we won’t have a whole hell of a lot to write about. 

Remember, stress is a vital part of life. How you handle that stress determines where it takes you.    

About the Author:  When he's not working with the dedicated and passionate people of Pikes Peak Writers, Jason P. Henry is lost in a world of serial killers, psychopaths, and other unsavory folks. Ask him what he is thinking, but only at your own risk. More often than not he is plotting a murder, considering the next victim, or twisting seemingly innocent things into dark and demented ideas. A Suspense, Thriller and Horror writer with a dark, twisted sense of humor, Jason strives to make people squirm, cringe, and laugh. He loves to offer a smile, but is quick to leave you wondering what lies behind it. Jason P. Henry is best summed up by the great philosopher Eminem “I'm friends with the monsters beside of my bed, get along with the voices inside of my head.” Learn more about Jason at www.jasonphenry.com.

Time Stealers

By Jax Hunter
(Writers:  There are a lot of good tips in this post for NaNoWriMo.)

“Gosh, I wish I had time to write a novel.”

workingnaked.com

How many times have you heard that, fellow fiction writers? I often want to answer this way:  “Well, yes, I manage to write when I’m not watching soap operas and eating bon-bons.”

And then there’s this one: “You can make the brownies for the bake sale since you don’t work.

Again, I bring out the soap operas and bon-bons.

The truth is, if you want time, you have to make it. If writing is a priority, then you will make the time you need to do it. This month, I want to share a few tricks first and mention a few time stealers last.

My favorite way of mapping out my writing time starts with knowing the end page count I am aiming for. This is usually genre specific. Of course, you can just write and write until the story seems to be told, but if you need to be more structured (if you have a time limit or time goal for your book, or . . . gasp, a deadline. . .) here’s one way to work it out.

I know that the book I am aiming for is 300 pages long. I know I have 6 months to write it. I know that I only want to write on weekdays. So, using calculus and algebra and all those higher maths, I calculate. . . . 6 months times 4 weeks each. . . .carry one. . . is 24 weeks times five days per week. . . carry four. . . . EQUALS 120 writing days. Now, I generally mark out a few for emergencies that come up - let’s subtract 5. That leaves 115 writing days.

300 pages written in 115 days - that’s 300 divided by 115. . . carry two. . . . that’s 2.6 pages per day. Now that doesn’t sound quite as daunting, does it?

Now, getting those pages written can be a challenge. I have found that when I start a project, that 2.6 pages (or whatever my goal is for that project) can take me three hours to write. But, I also find that as I train my brain to write, it goes faster and faster. By a few weeks in, I find that that same 2.6 pages are getting pounded out in record time. For this reason, you may want to start with a page a day and work up to two or three or four. For this, of course, it might be nice to have your calendar and a calculator handy :)

Many writers will ask, at this point, if they can just do it by time. For example, can I just write from 7:00 to 9:00? I guess you can. Hello, you can do whatever you want. However, for me, I can SIT and stare at the blank page for two hours and be no nearer completion of my book. That’s why I had to train myself to produce.

Remember BiC-HoK? Butt in Chair - Hands on Keyboard. Folks, that is the ONLY way that I’ve found to get a book written. To sit in the chair and write and not get up until the pages for the day are done.

Another hint here. When the pages for the day are done - STOP. Even if it’s in mid-sentence. Don’t finish the scene. Just stop. Tomorrow, when you sit down, your brain with click in right where you left off. (That is, of course, if you’re training it consistently.)

The name of this game is consistency. If you take days and days off from the project, your brain stalls. If you’re in the work every day (you can take weekends off, I find), your brain continues to brew the story and, when you sit down, it’s ready to write.

Another trick is to offer your brain an “on switch”. By this I mean a trigger that tells it that it is time to work. I have found that just lighting a candle beside my desk does this for me. It might be music, or simply shutting the door. But if you do something consistently, your brain will learn (like Pavlov’s mutts) to click on when it’s time to write. Last summer, I spent a lot of time at the beach writing (I know, I’m really evil for rubbing it in). What I found, though, is that even when I wasn’t there to “write”, my brain didn’t know it. I kept having to scramble for paper and pen to jot down ideas and phrases.

Of course, we all work differently. But give this thing a good honest try before discarding it. The plan may need tweaking for your individual preferences, but that’s perfectly fine.

If you plan your work, calculate your pages, get your butt in the chair. . . then proceed to spend three hours playing solitaire or reading email, the work will not get done. Email is my personal bug-a-boo. I belong to a number of writer-related Yahoo groups - great resources every one of them. And it is terribly easy to rationalize that, since they’re WRITING groups, it’s okay to check them while I’m writing. RIGHT? NO! NO! NO!

One thing I’ve done to combat my urge to check email is to write on a computer that doesn’t have email. One advantage of that is that, if your writing computer isn’t hooked to cyberspace, there’s no danger of virus-wipes.

I often promise myself a game of solitaire at the half way mark. But, if you do this, you MUST be strong and stop at one. You know yourself better than anyone. Don’t cut yourself any slack. You’ll be glad when you stack up that three hundred pages and write THE END.

A few other time stealers:

The telephone. Don’t pick it up. Get caller ID or a special ring for your kids or spouse. Then, let all the others go to voice mail. Schedule a time (after the pages are done) to return phone calls. I find that the more I do this, the more my friends come to respect what I do. They realize that I’m really working and not just sitting in front of the TV.

The TV. If this is a weakness, then just don’t turn it on until AFTER the pages are done.

Reading. I am a firm believer in reading. Not only to learn craft, but also to fill up the idea well. When I’m regularly wringing out my creative brain onto paper, I need to fill it back up again. Reading helps me. (Actually movies do too). But, again, you must put it in its place and not let it take over your writing time.

Those are just a few of the most common time-stealers. I’m sure you have hundreds more. The key is to make your pages a priority. Get them done BEFORE letting the stealers in :)

Well, that’s about it. BiC-HoK. Get the pages done. Just do it :)

Jax

About the Author:  Jax Hunter is a published romance writer and freelance copywriter. She wears many hats including EMT, CPR instructor, and Grammy. She is currently working on a contemporary romance series set in ranching country Colorado and a historical romance set in 1775 Massachusetts. She lives in Colorado Springs, belongs to PPW, RMFW and is a member of the Professional Writer's Alliance.

www.jaxmhunter@gmail.com and www.revive1775.com