O: Optimize and Organize. I've read things written by other writers of how they use their time be they full time or part time. Some set aside a certain number of hours or minutes for promotion such as blogging, visiting social media sites and for other business related chores like email. Then they have their set hours they work on their writing.
I've already learned to do this to some degree but I haven't gone so far as to make set times. I'm more likely to ignore some parts of the business when I get really busy with another one. I'm also likely to wander away from my desk to do some baking or laundry. I might have two hours in the evening to write, but with all the interruptions I'm lucky to get more than an hour. I feel I need more discipline to use my writing time wisely. I intend to set aside the time of day I check blogs and then get off the Internet and write. I may need to spend some hours out of the house for that. I find when I go to the local coffee shop, my focus stays on my writing and I get a lot done.
How do you organize your time? What things distract you when you should be writing? Do you feel like you optimize your time?
22 comments:
I am terrible at organization. This is my biggest flaw as a writer. Honestly, I don't know how I get anything done at all. Your tip about going somewhere to write seems good to me though. I just might try out the library.
I'm pretty bad at organising my time, and I do have the tendency to get lost on Youtube or Tumblr.
Oh man do I need to organize my time better. I think I let things become a distraction unnecessarily. I definitely have to work on that. :)
Since I've retired, I've been a dismal failure at organizing my time. Still hunting for a formula that will work for me.
I'm pretty hopeless at organising too! I think perhaps because the rest of my life is rather unorganised (I prefer unscheduled and spontaneous!), it makes it hard to be organised about writing.
I find spontaniety works for me though. I go with what I'm feeling inspired by. Sometimes that's social media, sometimes it's writing, sometimes it's getting out of the house. But when I do do something, I'm more productive because I want to be doing it.
Rinelle Grey
I try to strike a balance between discipline/routine and the freedom to explore and go where the moment takes me. If I'm working on a scene or a story and I'm really into it, I go with it - the laundry, etc can wait. :)
great post thanks for sharing!
I'm not a writer, but this applies to all of out lives, I think. I love to blog and do some in the morning before I take my dogs out for their walks. Then I read blogs while I rest with a cup of tea after walking. In general, I thought I would have so much more time to do things after I retired, but it seems like the opposite is true. Perhaps without the structure of working, time just goes, who knows where.......
What distracts me from writing? Right now, it's a four-letter word: BABY. :) He's cute, though!
I do my least favorite things I am supposed to do first...then everything else is fun!
I'm struggling with discipline myself. I know what I need to get done, but sometimes, the motivation isn't there so I do nothing. Planning on trying to set up daily goals and a loose schedule in hopes that helping.
i love organization and although my house does not compliment that sentiment, i feel i am organized in my mind and in my many lists---i find it very interesting how you get more done if you leave the house, that's kinda cool to me for some reason :)
To be absolutely truthful, blogging is a big distraction LOL.
Because I found I wasn't managing my time very well, I wrote out my "idea" schedule for the day on an index card. I actually have learned to more or less follow it without being a slave to it. Like Michael said, blogging and other social media can be a big distraction!
Time spent writing is like creating any other habit. You just have to do it. I spend two hours a day in my room with my door closed to write. I'll make an exception, but it is that, an exception. I time it so it's when my youngest is napping and after the homeschool day is over with the older two, so they can entertain themselves. It has been the best gift I've ever given myself, and I get to open it everyday.
Time? What time? Lol. Time seems to go faster each day!
I manage by actuall thinking what I'd like to focus on first. I generally do blogging and email the first thing in the morning..
Design work/ errands. Then I get back write a few hours and blog as I write ... It actually works for me. Lol. Then late afternoon.... Power walk for four- five miles... Get back blog snd write in the evening... Then..... Keel over.!!lol.
Oh. I do bake too in tween the blogging/ writing... See .. Now you know what my first line meant... Lol.
We did both blog about being organized!
As I said, I have a list, and I make time for what's on that list. Since it varies from day to day, there is no pattern. I joke that my life became chaos and that chaos became the balance.
I'm kind of OK at managing my time until the evening and I get waylaid by various websites
I have a pattern but not really set times. And when I am working on a manuscript, it's a block of time every night until I finish.
Optimizing is great for software, so I know the word well in that respect. I tend to optimize and organize my software well, but not my time so much. I procrastinate, doing the fun stuff, and pushing off the stuff I don't want to do.
#atozchallenge, Kristen's blog: kristenhead.blogspot.com
I've always been single minded when it comes to a task, especially when a deadline is involved. I stop the rest of my life to complete the job - to the detriment of everything else. I got my masters degree at night while working a high pressure 60 to 70 hour a week job. My family suffered and my marriage big time. I graduated with high honors, but did not attend the graduation because by that time the rest of my world had fallen apart.
I'm highly organized, but still struggle not to be so focused. . .
Sometimes it pays off, sometimes not!
Hah! Lots of things distract me. I find it helps to stay focused if I can spend some time that is set aside for writing and that can't be swallowed up by anything else. That last bit is important.
This year, one such example was taking my daughter to music. I would wait there for the hour, laptop in hand, no internet and no other claims on my time. No excuses, so just write.
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