This is a guest post by one of the UK’s leading experts in digital distraction and digital detox and author of The Distraction Trap: How to Focus in a Digital World, Frances Booth. Find out more about Frances here.
[Tweet ““If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” ~ Toni Morrison “]
Whether you work as a writer, aspire to be a writer, or use writing for business, these tips will help you be more productive with your writing. This is the second post in a two-part series. For more productivity tips, you can read part one of Top Productivity Tips For Writers.
Today we’ll look at the pressures around writing, creative fuel, and why more time is not what you need. Try these strategies for staying productive as a writer.
Give yourself less time
Having unlimited time to write isn’t always helpful. We might dream of that sabbatical, that year off, or retirement … when we’ll finally write that book. Then the huge chunk of time we’ve been waiting so long for finally arrives … and we don’t get round to writing. Would you believe it, we’ve got too much time! Huge swathes of time can leave us without a structure, and without any pressure to get on with our writing. Of course, too much pressure isn’t healthy either, but we’re looking for a balance that encourages us to write.
So, give yourself a bit less time. Give yourself one day a week to work on your book, rather than waiting for the whole week. Give yourself three hours to write that blog or article, rather than waiting for a whole day. What happens when we give ourselves less time? We’re forced to prioritise, we’re forced to say no to things that don’t really matter, and we’re forced to leave to one side – never to be done – the unimportant tasks we were filling our time with.
The drama lives on the page
It’s easy to get dramatic about writing. The turmoil! The angst! The difficult plotline! But getting dramatic about why it’s such a struggle is energy spent on the wrong thing. Tension should be in the words and the sentences you create. If you’re making a big fuss out loud about that piece, that chapter, or that blog that is so impossible, then ask yourself why. Yes, writing is difficult, and yes, we need methods and strategies to deal with the blocks and fears we face. But being dramatic isn’t going to solve it. It will just slow you down. Do some work on dealing with blocks or on sustaining yourself as a writer instead.
Creative fuel
Two of the main reasons writing grinds to a halt is that a writer is either blocked or has run out of steam. To solve the running out of steam problem, make sure you’ve given yourself enough creative fuel. This can seem counter-intuitive as a productivity strategy. But switch off your computer, get up, go out, and do something inspiring. Go for a walk, visit a gallery, or potter round a shop – do whatever you feel like doing to explore. There’s no agenda here, and you don’t have to write about what you’re doing. You’re simply gathering creative inspiration. When you return to your writing, if you’ve stocked up on creative fuel, the words will flow more easily. Staying inspired is one of the best ways to stay productive as a writer.
Don’t talk about it. Do it
We need to be careful how much we talk about our writing. There is a danger that we can spend energy and time on talking about writing, rather than actually on writing. For example, we might tell everyone about the book that we have ‘all ready in our head’. But we’re talking about it instead of actually getting it down on the page. It isn’t a book or a blog or an article until it’s actually written. Talking about our writing can also dilute our focus. It can scare us too – we put pressure on ourselves unnecessarily. It’s better to just get on with the piece. Get productive and get writing. Then you can talk about the piece when it’s finished.
Dealing with the pressure
Lots of the time we waste on writing is because we’re scared. We’re scared of pressing publish, we’re scared of people reading our words and we’re scared of being judged. When we write, we make ourselves vulnerable. We need to acknowledge this pressure so we can be more productive with our writing. We need to work through our fears – this is important work that needs doing and is worth spending our time on.
Some of the ways we react to this pressure include spending time checking, checking, and checking again. Or, we finish a piece, or a book, or a blog, but we never submit or publish it. All we’re doing is protecting ourselves. But like starting, the finishing line is another point where you can save huge amounts of time with your writing. How much time are you spending delaying or procrastinating once you’re finished? Clearing that final hurdle and pressing send is an important part of the process. So once you’ve finished, don’t delay. Take a deep breath and press publish.
