This post includes both free and affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.Writers are busy people. Full-time freelance writers work on multiple projects simultaneously. Aspiring writers with full-time jobs write during the wee hours of the morning, late into the night and on weekends. Despite family commitments, distractions, and busy schedules, writers must unlock time to write.
But just in case you haven’t reached this point in your writing career, I’m sharing my time management and productivity tips with you to help you strengthen your writing routine. In 14 months, I moved from corporate life to blogger, author, coach and communications consultant. It’s been a blessed journey and very busy.
In this post, I share the steps I take to manage my time, admitting some days are better than others.
One thing to remember: There is no one way to manage your writing time or get more writing done. Take a look at my ideas and pick out what works for you. Be authentic and stay true to yourself.
Look for waste in your writing process
While I was happy to finish writing my book, I knew there were things I could do to work more efficiently. To find the answers, I conducted my own version of a Waste Walk through my writing process. An actual Waste Walk involves a team of people looking at different parts of a process or a work environment in real time, not analyzing or evaluating after the fact. But since the exercise works to improve a process, I wanted to find out where I wasted time while writing my book. Using the 8 Wastes, which are defects, overproduction, waiting, non-utilized talent, transportation, inventory, motion, and extra processing, I found my biggest waste, in terms of time, was in the following areas:
- I uncovered defects in my process when I stored my research notes and my manuscript in two apps instead of one.
- I wasted time in overproduction when I spent over ten hours formatting my book.
- During the five days spent waiting for comments from my editor, I could have worked on another part of publishing the book.
- Not using a designer (non-utilized talent) to design my book cover cost me five days I could have spent promoting my book.
Since I know where the wastes are in my book writing process, I can get rid of unnecessary steps and activities.
Start with a writing brief
Before I begin writing, I like to create a brief outline of what I want to accomplish. My writing brief includes an overview of the project, goals, status of each task, and the project deadline. When I’m working on a client assignment, I add my customer’s input or follow the submission guidelines when working on an article or guest blog post.
Map out time for each project
As a writer, it’s essential to determine how much time you plan to spend on each project. If you are not sure, spend one to two weeks monitoring how long it takes you to write a blog post or a chapter in your book. Once you find your ideal writing time for each piece of content, allocate a specific amount of time to each task on your schedule. On the road to being a fearless writer, resist the urge to compare your writing times with other writers.
Keep track of your tasks
To avoid wasting time, I like to keep track of my writing and nonwriting duties. When I first started my blog, I quickly realized I had more to do than just writing blog posts. There was lots of researching topics, updating my website, formatting graphics for each blog post, and so much more. As a die-hard fan of to-do lists, I turned to a productivity journal to keep track of my tasks. Another good planning system is bullet journaling (see also ‘Best Bullet Journal Supplies‘). Created by Ryder Carrol, a bullet journal is a blank journal that helps you divide your responsibilities under different sections in an index, monthly, daily, collections and a future log. You can learn more from Ryder’s video here. See a list of my favorite journal supplies here.
Know when to say no
It’s essential for every writer to know when to say no. You cannot work on every project that comes your way. Based on your values and beliefs, be clear about the projects you will accept and the ones you will reject. Why is this important? There’s no reason to waste time working on projects you don’t believe in, or that take time away from other priorities. I use a yes/no/maybe chart to keep track of my writing commitments.
Know when to hit publish
Don’t waste time rewriting the same content over and over hoping to get it just right. At the start of my writing projects, I determine how many rounds of edits my document will go through. I also use writing software like Grammarly or ProWritingAid to help during your editing process. I have learned to hit publish so I can move on to my next writing assignment.
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