Tag: schedule

Publish Don’t Perish: Tip #6 – Writing is Work

Writing is work. As writers, we understand what that means, however, our friends and family may not. This is especially true when you work at your craft from your home.

A number of writer friends have often shared their frustration with the constant interruptions they encounter from people they know. I confess to experiencing the same frustration as a writer. However, unlike the writers I know, I found myself in the perfect position for an experiment. With a Master of Science degree, I am quite familiar with experiments.

I joined a law firm as one of their attorneys in the areas of estate planning, business, and real estate more than a year ago. I confess to enjoying the practice of law more than I ever have in my entire career (I won’t reveal how many years that is, but suffice it to say it’s more than 20). I work with an incredible, brilliant group of attorneys and support staff. Another plus, is that although our main office is fully staffed (with 3 satellite offices), unless I am meeting with a client, I work from my home office — where the experiment begins.

I don’t write full time, but, I never did. I have practiced law since I graduated law school, however, when I moved to Colorado, I practiced more part time until I started with this firm. With the exception of my clients, my family and friends saw me as a writer, and interruptions were a constant problem. Once I joined this firm, while I worked out of the same home office, the interruptions ceased.

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Writers Beware of the Legal Pitfalls

What does that tell us? That others considered my work as a full time attorney as a “real job” while my work as a writer was not. To say that is frustrating is an understatement, however, there are things we can do.

  • Treat writing as a “real job.”
  • Go to your workplace, whether it is a separate room in your home, an area of your home, the library, a picnic table in a specific park, or Starbucks.
  • Let your family and friends know your work schedule.
  • During your writing (work) hours, shut off your phone, do not answer your door, and do not check your email.
Karen Van Den Heuvel Fischer


Once they realize you are not available during work hours, they will understand that you are working. Fortunately, I am an early bird and my writing time takes place before most people rise. My “workday” for writing begins around 4:30 a.m. with my workday as a lawyer around 8. For me, a perfect solution.

What is your perfect solution?

(c) 2020 Karen Van Den Heuvel Fischer

APODS — Discipline by Amanda Cabot

When your goal is “Getting to the End,” it doesn’t matter how much analysis, prioritization, and organization you’ve done if you’re not willing to take the next step and discipline yourself to write.

I know, I know. No one likes the word “discipline,” so let’s call this the “Just DO It!” step. It’s not necessarily easy, but this is a case of practice making perfect.

8 Suggestions

Here are eight suggestions I’ve found useful when trying to get to “The End.”

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Thyme for Writers
  1. Schedule a time to write every day and then WRITE during that time. It may seem difficult at first, but like exercise, the more you do it, the easier it becomes.
  2. Remember that five minutes of writing is better than none. No matter how busy we are, every one of us can find five minutes each day. I challenge you to find those five minutes and use them. Chances are, you’ll write far longer than five minutes, but even if five minutes of writing is all you accomplish, you’ll have taken the first steps toward making daily writing a habit. And that’s a habit we all need.
  3. Remind yourself that writing is your #1 priority. Now’s the time to dust off those signs that you developed during the prioritization step and post them everywhere you’re likely to be distracted. It may seem juvenile, but visual reminders are powerful.
  4. Do whatever it takes to meet your weekly goals. Again, this sounds difficult, and it may be at first, but the more often you meet your goals, the more energized you’ll be and the closer you’ll be to reaching “The End.”
  5. Optimize your research time. Writers tend to fall into two camps: those who love research and those who hate it. It doesn’t matter where you are on that spectrum. The key is to spend the minimum amount of time gathering the information you need. One technique I use is to avoid doing detailed research during the first draft of a book. Instead, I keep a list of the questions I have – things like “how long does it take to ride a horse from San Antonio to Austin?” When I finish the first draft, I have a better idea of whether I really, really, really need to know that. And, if I do, I can look for the answer to that question at the same time that I’m researching all the other points I listed during the first draft. That’s more efficient than stopping to investigate each point and possibly heading down the proverbial rabbit holes.
  6. Remind friends that you are working. I doubt your friends would stop in for a visit or want to have a lengthy chat during the workday if you were at an office, but the fact that many writers work at home makes us more vulnerable to friendly distractions. Now is the time to politely but firmly tell friends and neighbors that you’re working and can’t be disturbed.
  7. Use voice mail. This is a corollary to the previous point. I consider answering machines and caller ID among the essentials of life and answer calls during my working hours only if they’re from my publisher. Sorry, robo calls. You don’t get answered EVER, but you do get reported to the Do Not Call Registry.
  8. Consider email, texting, and internet surfing a reward. Again, the goal is to keep your focus on the manuscript and avoid everything that prevents you from writing. A number of my writer friends have discovered the same thing I have, namely that if we check email before we begin to write, we’re much less productive. The reason is simple: whatever was in those email messages, no matter how trivial, is competing for space in your brain and lessening your focus. Don’t lose your focus on what’s important: your manuscript.

I won’t sugarcoat it. Discipline is hard, but the rewards are worth the effort. Just DO it!

(c) 2019 Amanda Cabot

Amanda Cabot

Amanda Cabot is no stranger to getting to “The End.” She juggled a sixty-hour a week job with nonnegotiable deadlines and building a house long-distance at the same time that she wrote two books a year. Whether or not she kept her sanity during that time is debatable. Amanda is the best-selling author of over thirty novels, eight novellas, four non-fiction books, and what she describes as enough technical articles to cure insomnia in a medium-sized city.

Her most recent release is A Tender Hope, the third in the Cimarron Creek trilogy.

Amanda Cabot, Cimarron Creek Trilogy
A Tender Hope, by Amanda Cabot

You can find Amanda at:

www.amandacabot.com
https://www.facebook.com/amanda.j.cabot
https://twitter

APODS – Organization: Advice from the Experts by Amanda Cabot

Welcome back to APODS. Are you ready to talk about organization? I hope so, because I want to share some precepts from experts in time management and organization.

This month’s post focuses on ideas from Marilyn Paul, whose It’s Hard to Make a Difference When You Can’t Find Your Keys is one of my favorite books on the subject.

Although the entire book is worth reading, I found four of her points particularly useful.


APODS, organization, Marilyn Paul, writers, KISS principal, schedule, task
APODS – Organization
1. Have a place for everything and everything in its place

This should be self-evident, since it’s almost the definition of organization, but the simple fact is, if you can’t find a critical writing tool or even the new ream of paper you need for your printer, the time you spend looking for it is time you could have been writing. On the other hand, if you establish a place for everything you need to write and then ensure that everything is returned to that place as soon as you’ve finished using it, you’ll reduce wasted time and the frustration of having to search for something.

2. Establish your own filing/organizational system, using the KISS principle

There are two key parts to this. The first is that a filing system that works for someone else may not work for you. You need to determine what makes sense to you. After all, each of us is unique, and what seems logical for someone else may be confusing to us. Don’t be fooled into believing that just because a writer you admire uses a system means that it will be the right one for you.

The second part is the KISS principle. You’re probably familiar with it, but in case you aren’t, the acronym stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid. While I don’t particularly like the “stupid” part of it, the call for simplicity resonates with me. Why create a system that’s more complex than it needs to be? You’re setting yourself up for frustration if you do that. Save your creativity for writing itself, not filing or organizing.

These two principles have as their goal avoiding wasted time. The next two focus on minimizing frustration.

KISS Principle
3. Learn how much time each task takes, allowing for transition time

Remember back in the Analysis phase when we charted our use of time? Among other things, that taught us how long it takes to do specific things. What we didn’t factor into the equation was transition time. It’s unrealistic to expect to finish eating dinner and go directly to writing a chapter. If you set up a schedule without including transition time, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Don’t do it.

4. Schedule “unscheduled time”

Does this sound counterintuitive? After all, if we’re scheduling our time, shouldn’t we schedule all of it? Marilyn Paul says we should, but that one of the things we need to include in our daily schedule is some time without any task associated with it. Why? Life happens. Things that you didn’t expect will demand your time. If you’ve scheduled every minute, when the unexpected occurs and you’re forced to deal with it, you’ll be behind schedule.

Furthermore, no matter how carefully you schedule, there will be times when a task takes longer than you planned. If you have no free time in your schedule, once again you’ll fail to meet your goals, and that will be frustrating. You want to ensure success, not failure, so give yourself a break … literally. Schedule “unscheduled time.”

Think about Paul’s precepts. Do they make sense to you? Can/will you implement them? I hope so. I also hope you’ll come back in August when we explore two other experts’ advice on how to organize.

(C) 2019 Amanda Cabot

Amanda Cabot

Amanda Cabot is no stranger to getting to “The End.” She juggled a sixty-hour a week job with nonnegotiable deadlines and building a house long-distance at the same time that she wrote two books a year. Whether or not she kept her sanity during that time is debatable. Amanda is the best-selling author of over thirty novels, eight novellas, four non-fiction books, and what she describes as enough technical articles to cure insomnia in a medium-sized city.

Her most recent release is A Tender Hope, the third in the Cimarron Creek trilogy.

Amanda Cabot, Cimarron Creek Trilogy
A Tender Hope, by Amanda Cabot

You can find Amanda at:

www.amandacabot.com
https://www.facebook.com/amanda.j.cabot
https://twitter