Woop! Tickets for the Edinburgh Book Festival went on sale yesterday, and while I started out 606th in the online queue (the stress!), I managed to get tickets for the Celebration of Iain Banks, the talk with Margaret Atwood and Neil Gaiman, and a discussion about Mary, Queen of Scots. Cash permitting, I might sign up for more nearer the time, but for now, I’m one happy chappy (or chappess).
I’ve been a bit under the weather this month and my work-rate has been slipping as a result. Forever needing an excuse for pretty notebooks, I started writing daily goals in my latest purchase.
I know it seems simple, but writing down what I want to achieve in the day really helps my productivity. There’s nothing better than swishing a big tick after completing a task.
Example:
Read two chaps of research book
Plot Rhinoceros scene
Redraft speech in chapter 6
Map out character X’s development
Idea for next blog post
Tips
Mix up research, plotting, and writing
Break tasks down into small chunks
Be realistic with the time you have
Work hard
Everyone varies in what they can reasonably get done in a day, but the bottom line is you need to be prolific if you want to have any sort of career from writing. Forget the oddball writers who had amazing success with one book – that’s not the normal path. Most have to slog away, churning out book after book over many years. It’s a long, hard road (and I’m only just setting off).
Source: http://family.franzone.com/
Google ‘what writers write every day’ and you’ll be flooded with a jumble of different answers. One writer could have 500 perfect words a day, whereas another could boast 5,000 of complete drivel.
My plan and advice is to map out roughly what you want to achieve in a certain time frame – mark it out by the month. I’d like to query my MS by the end of the year. Working back, I’ve figured I’d like to have a first draft ready for a CP by the end of July.
I know what state my draft is in, and I know what needs to be done in the next four weeks. Now I can break down my goals into weeks. E.g.
July
Week 1: All plots adequately covered and resolved
Week 2: Characters solid and developed
Week 3: Settings, descriptions redrafted
Week 4: Read through several times
With a weekly target, it’s much easier to figure out what needs to go on my to-do list for the following day. If I meet my daily goals, I know I’ll make my weekly goals, monthly goals, and am therefore on track for my Grand Plan.
After trial and error I’ve accepted this is the best way for me to work (for now!) It can be tailored to suit what time is available, and what I want to achieve in that time. I don’t see the point in wasting valuable hours trawling the internet, desperately comparing myself to other writers. Writer X might work for 8 hours a day, but they might not mention all the minutes spent on Facebook or Twitter. Writer Y might work for only 2 hours a day, but knuckle down for 2 solid, distraction-free hours.
I’ve tried organising my day into time-slots – i.e. one hour spent on this, then one spent on that. Sometimes it works, but if I’m distracted I get nothing done. I can tick off ‘one hour spent on characters’ even if I didn’t work hard. With a set of daily goals, there’s no place to hide. If I lie in, I’ll need to stay up late. If I allow myself to waste time on the internet, I’ll have less time in the day to take a proper break away from my desk.
If you’re not already using daily goals, give them a try. Doesn’t matter how many items are on there – it’s all about setting goals and working towards achieving them.
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