Someone on the Absolute Write Freelance Forums recently raised a common question: “How do you manage your time?”

As the 30+ responses demonstrate, “time management” is a popular topic, and not just for freelance writers but for anyone working for themselves. Many of us are trying to squeeze in a writing career around work, family and other life obligations. The “I don’t have time” excuse makes it far too easy to procrastinate.

But as one forum member points out, “time management for sole proprietors is critical…time is money.”

So how do successful writers get things done? To answer this question, I thought I’d share some time management tips that came out of the thread.

First thing’s first: figure out the logistics

If you’re going to make a real go at this writing thing, do everything in your power to set yourself up to succeed. Part of this is creating an environment where you know you work best.

To figure out what that means for you, Tiffany Godfrey has some excellent questions that writers should ask themselves when they first get started:

When I first started writing, I first asked myself the following questions:

1) Am I a night or morning person?

2) What items should I focus on first — blogging, ezine articles, or my book? And how often for each project?

3) How much time can I realistically devote to writing per day?

4) What non-essential activities could I eliminate from my daily activities and replace them with writing?

The power of To Do Lists

To do lists are great, provided you actually use them. One of the keys is setting your to-do list ahead of time, so you know what’s coming when you actually sit down to work.

Matt Willard likes to “set the next day’s to-do list in the evening. Helps me get up and go more quickly the next day.”

L.M. Preston is a morning person:

Every morning I write several to do lists.

- one for work
- one for home/family
- got to do homework with kids
- usually try to do something fun with them too
- one for writing
- one for exercising (I have to – I love food)

After I do this I trim it down and prioritize…

…my advice to you – start out small. Make of to do list of 1 thing you have to do everyday – set a time for doing that one thing. Then add on the high priority things that you HAVE to finish. Then check off what you have completed.

This takes time to condition yourself to do this, but it can be done.

Time blocking

Your stacks of to-do lists aren’t going to do you much good unless you actually use them. But sometimes tasks seem discouragingly monumental. “I know I’m not going to finish my novel this afternoon, so why bother starting?” And even if you do start, staying focused can also be a challenge.

Lots of writers use time blocking to help them get over these mental hurdles. It’s a great idea – isn’t 30 minutes of productivity a day better than zero?

One member pointed to an interview with Kelly Stone, author of Time to Write, who suggests using a timer:

If simply staying focused is a problem, one success strategy is to write in mini-blocks of time. Get an egg timer and set it for twenty minutes, thirty minutes, or even ten minutes. Set it, then write like mad for that amount of time, then when the timer goes off, reward yourself. Go have a cup of tea or switch the laundry or do whatever it is you think you need to do. Then, go back and write for another twenty minutes until the timer goes off again.

Jeffrey Ober, a self-proclaimed “list person”, schedules his time in blocks:

I break my work time into 1-hour blocks. Then from the 1-hour blocks, I take 10-minute breaks where I get up and wander around, aimlessly. But for each block, I’ve got just one type of thing I do during that block. I might do the same thing in more than one block, but not consecutively. Something like:

7-7:50 Magazine Queries (send, respond, dream about, write, research)
8-8:50 Textbook Writing
9-9:50 Fiction Book Writing
10-10:50 Search for other freelance work
11-11:50 Magazine Queries
12-12:50 Lunch
1-1:50 On-line Article Writing (Demand Studios, etc)
2-2:50 Marketing, Web Pages
3-3:50 Research for books or writing

etc.

I know its kind of anal, but it works for me. And I change the schedule regularly (almost daily) to keep it from getting boring.

Hide from the (virtual) world

When I want to get things done, I often isolate myself in the bedroom with the door closed. Just me and my laptop. But that only takes care of my physical distractions – let’s not forget all of the digital distractions like email, instant messenger, Twitter, etc. In that vein, here is an excellent tip from an anonymous poster:

I use Yahoo Messenger to screen e-mails instead of constantly checking it. I sign in as invisible (to cut down on friends and family instant messaging me) but can still see what e-mails come in and if they’re important enough to check out right away.

Read more

Some might argue that reading about productivity is in itself an act of procrastination. But some books and websites can really help.

• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen. I read this book years ago and his technique, (commonly abbreviated “GTD”), is still my favorite. GTD rests on the principle that a person needs to move tasks out of the mind by recording them externally. That way, the mind is freed from the job of remembering everything that needs to be done, and can concentrate on actually performing those tasks.
• Time to Write: Professional writers reveal how to fit writing into your busy life by Kelly Stone. I haven’t read this book myself, but lots of writers recommend it. For a teaser, check out her interview on Women on Writing.
• 43 Folders. This blog is all about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.

Thanks to everyone at the Absolute Write Freelance Forums for all the great tips. Anything I missed? How do you make time for writing?

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 24th, 2009 at 6:22 am and is filed under Tips and Tricks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.