More Hours In the Day: Time Management for Writers

I'm ending the week with one more post on time management. One more opportunity to prod myself into action.

I was inspired by Michael Hyatt's article on How to Shave Ten Hours Off Your Workweek. Several of his tips give advice on keeping computer and internet time from consuming productivity--something I struggle with. My friend Stacy S. Jensen has the right idea. She's begun the year by getting her writing in before going online.

Copyblogger has a post called Time is not on your side that includes links to a quiz that helps you figure out if you're a time waster, a downloadable time log,  and a downloadable survey to help set goals.

And if you need something more in-depth, Manage My Time Now has a free time management course and a time management personality test.

But don't take too much time away from writing to read about time management. The best thing we can do as writers is to establish some kind of daily writing ritual that doesn't get shoved aside when life gets busy. Even if we're only getting a few hundred words down, it's progress toward writing "the end".

So now it's time to get some writing and critiquing done so I won't be ashamed when I meet my critique group (The Fearsome Foursome) tomorrow. How about you?

12 comments:

  1. You mention me on the day I wasn't able to squeez in my five pages in the morning. It took me a while — afternoon naptime in fact — to get them done today. Thanks for all the helpful tips. And, good luck with the Fearsome Foursome. It's great you have a group.

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  2. I definitely have a writing routine and, barring hell and or hight water, I generally stick to it. I'm fortunate, however, that I have the time to dedicate to writing - my schedule might be hectic, but there's a long, dull, 8 hours a day I have to find a way to fill...

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  3. Stacy and Sonia, you both manage much more than I do! But this year, I'm trying to do much better. :)

    ~Debbie

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  4. I think my only answer is to change time 36 hours a day ... 8 days a week.

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  5. Uh, oh, I didn't do to well on the "time is not on your side" quiz! Thanks for the links :-) I can see I need to improve my time management skills--but of course I didn't really need to take a quiz to tell me that! It's a new year. Maybe this year will be the one to make it happen?

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  6. Nice links! I definitely need to become more productive as I get busier and busier. I'll be checking these out...thanks!

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  7. This is a really hard one for most of us I guess. It's one of my goals to be better at getting my writing in 5 days a week. Thanks for the links!

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  8. Great post...

    Must feature it in one of my own posts :-)

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  9. I think time management is one of the hardest things for writers. Because we set our own deadlines, and just "finishing" doesn't usually mean an immediate paycheck, it's easy to let other things seem more important. Thanks to everyone who chimed in!

    ~Debbie

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  10. Thanks, Deborah. Very useful post.

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  11. I hardly ever do anything before going online...;) That is pretty sad, I know, but it's an addiction. Though I do recall last year, quite often writing my short stories before getting online. And I got it done really quickly! So it's very good advice.

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  12. You're welcome, Jack!

    Trisha, I'm the same way. Last year, there was a time where I wrote before going online. I was amazingly productive. I tried it again this morning. Why don't I do this every day??

    ~Debbie

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