CornerScribe

Archive for the ‘Productivity’ Category

Setting and trying to meet these goals has been a great motivator. I’m getting a lot more accomplished than I would have otherwise.

1. Spend one hour writing every morning before work (see my post on Rising Early to Write) I’m going to count this a success. I hit the snooze button a couple times, and I missed two mornings, but the habit is definitely settling in. I feel much better about myself and my work when I begin the day knowing some of my writing is already done.
2. Write 11 blog entries for my three blogs Done
3. Spend two hours EDITING the novel (in addition to the time I spend writing) I didn’t get to this one
4. Spend two hours networking and promoting the blogs Done
5. Write two articles to sell on Constant Content Done
6. Work on the Zombie short story I started a few months ago I didn’t get to this one
7. Go through my e-mail Done

Not bad, huh?

Goals for the coming week

1. Spend one hour writing before work, and use this time exclusively for the novel
2. Write 11 blog entries for my three blogs
3. Spend two hours networking and promoting the blogs
4. Go through my email
5. Write three articles and sell them online
6. Work on the Zombie short story

What are your writing or blogging goals for the week?

Photo courtesy of mysticchildz

I’ve been working hard at finishing/editing my novel, and I just had to share a nice little piece of software that I found.

YWriter

If you’ve been looking at Scrivener and can’t use it because you’re not on a Mac, this might just be the answer.

It has the storyboard layout that I’ve been looking for. You can drag and drop scenes and rearrange them easily, which also means all the text associated with the scene moves too. This is much easier than copy/paste in a word processor.

The thing that really sold me was that it will import works in progress. Go through your existing document and make sure chapter titles are “Chapter 1″ etc. Then, put “* * *” between scenes. (Note, that’s *space*space*). Save your file as RTF.

YWriter’s import tool will bring it in and automatically split it into chapters and scenes. How cool is that?

more cat pictures

I’ve been thinking a lot about all the things that I do that take time away from what I’d rather be doing (writing.) I’m sure many people have the same issues I do. I fall into a rut and find myself spending lots of time doing things I shouldn’t be doing.

• Television. This is a gigantic time suck. The one solution is to quit watching so much darn t.v. Of course, that’s easier said than done sometimes. If you’re like me, then you actually LIKE television (some of it anyway). So sue me. My solution is to watch only things I really like and stop just watching because something is on. I use Netflix and MythTV (like TiVo for geeks) to have better control over what and when I watch.
• Tweaking. Spending an hour searching for new wordpress themes isn’t really productive work. Neither is any number of blog-related activities I spend time on. I’ve started asking myself if what I’m doing will really help get me where I want to be.
• Networking. Don’t get me wrong, real networking is good. Spending two hours chit-chatting on twitter probably isn’t good. I’m not saying that I never take time to have fun, but I don’t kid myself into thinking that I’m doing something writing-related when I’m not.
• Reading Blogs. I love keeping up with lots of blogs, but I can easily use an hour or two this way without realizing it. About once a month, I go through and start purging my RSS feeds. If I haven’t read a blog in a month, and I haven’t really missed it, chances are it’s going to get removed.
• Research. Real research is great, but sometimes I find myself spending way more time “researching” than what is needed. If I’m honest, I’ll recognize that what I’m doing is avoiding getting started on the real work.

When it comes right down to it, most of these are often forms of procrastination. It can be tough to settle down and get busy, but it’s well worth it. What are some of your biggest time wasters?

If you’re like me, you have writing ideas, to-do lists, reminder lists, etc. to keep track of. Here’s a little piece of free software that you might find useful.

Tiddlyspot

This is an online organizational tool that’s free to use. It’s based on GTD (Getting Things Done), but it will work with your own methods too. I use this kind of setup to organize my writing into projects. A project might be a short story or novel, an article, a query. It might be something not really writing related, like maintenance on the blog, networking with other bloggers, ad campaigns, etc. If you’re going to work on something that takes more than one task to complete, it’s a project in my organization system.

I then list out all the tasks for that project. A short stories list might look like this…

• Finish writing rough draft
• Do research on medical conditions that cause convulsions
• Find two or three appropriate markets

A project list for the blog might look something like this…

Improve blog SEO

• Research SEO plugins and choose one to install
• Add plugin for Related Posts
• Change post titles
• Find new theme to install
• Announce new theme and downtime on blog

I store tasks in this system and ideas in another, Google Docs. When I have an idea for an article, I make notes in a new Google Document. Sometimes that’s no more than a title, but other times it’s the skeleton of an article. I divide articles and short stories, novel ideas, etc. into folders, one for each story, novel, or blog. When I need an idea, I have some already there, ready to be used.

There’s one more benefit to using these systems; both are online and available anywhere you have internet access. Log in for five minutes at lunch and makes a few notes, work from home or on the go, even jot down some ideas from your mobile phone. This is a great way to get your writing life (or regular life!) organized and track your ideas and projects.

Of course, I still carry my moleskine, for times when I just want paper or the internet is inaccessible. I like knowing that, no matter what, I have some method of collecting ideas and notes so that I won’t lose them.

Anyone want to mention other organization tools you use with success?

I think posting goals has a very positive impact on the amount of work I get done each week. I may not finish all my to-do’s, but I do finish MORE because of the list than I would otherwise.

Here’s how I did last week. Not bad, considering that I was out of town three days.

• Go through my email - Done
• Go through all blog comments and moderate/answer/etc. - Done
• Post two articles to Constant Content - No
• Post 3 blog posts to each blog -Done
• Spend 1 hour working on elance profile - No
• Spend two hours on the novel - No
• Spend two hours networking - Done
• Set up a StumbleUpon campaign - Done

And here are my goals for this week.

• Write two constant content articles
• Write the promised guest blog post
• Spend two hours editing the novel
• Spend one or two hours on a short story
• Post 3 posts to each blog
• Spend two hours networking

I want to get back to planning out my week. Here’s my list of things I need to accomplish this week.

• Go through my email
• Go through all blog comments and moderate/answer/etc.
• Post two articles to Constant Content
• Post 3 blog posts to each blog
• Spend 1 hour working on elance profile
• Spend two hours on the novel
• Spend two hours networking
• Set up a StumbleUpon campaign

What do you want to accomplish this week?

Whether it’s editing your novel or scrubbing the toilet, there are things that you need to do, even want to do, but just can’t find the motivation to do. When you’re in that situation, what do you do?

1. Do it for five minutes. The key here is truly letting yourself off the hook after your five minutes is up. If you know you’re going to force yourself to continue, you just won’t start. After all, that’s the problem in the first place. The good part about this is that you at least get something done. If the task is small, you may even complete it. However, if you use this tactic too often, you may fool yourself into believing you’re “working” on a project when you’re not.
2. Envision it complete. How would it feel to finish up what you’re dreading? Take a few minutes and allow yourself to really feel those emotions. Close your eyes and visualize putting the finishing touch on the novel or sticking the dreaded tax forms in the mail. Use those positive feelings to push yourself to do it.
3. List the benefits. What benefits will you gain by finishing the task? You’ll be able to ship the novel off to an agent if you take time to finish it. You’ll be ready to write this weekend if you clean the house tonight. Let yourself get carried away if you want, but imagine all the good things that can or will happen because you finally tackled that project. (more…)

   

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I’m still fighting off a cold, so my progress post is late. I hope I’m not the only one who finds that a bit ironic.

Well, here’s how I’m doing.

1. Spend two hours on the novel done
2. Spend two hours on the non-fiction grammar book I have in the works no, and I’m thinking of pulling this off my list for now
3. Go through my e-mail done
4. Find at least one new short story market done, but not posted yet. Will do that soon
5. Write 3-4 blog posts for each of my 3 blogs done
6. Send thank you’s to people who stumbled my posts no
7. Spend at least an hour commenting and stumbling on others’ blogs some time, but not an hour
8. Write one article started, but not finished
9. Work on Elance profile for at least one hour no
10. Friend a few people on twitter (I’m cornerscribe) done
11. Spend two hours networking on Entrecard done

Not bad for being sick, I think. What tips do you have to be productive?

Wow, what a spectacularly unproductive week. We were out of town a couple days, and then I came down with a rotten cold. Anyway, here is my update, such as it is.

1. Spend two hours on the novel no
2. Spend two hours on the non-fiction grammar book I have in the works no
3. Go through my e-mail yes
4. Find at least one new short story market no
5. Write 3-4 blog posts for each of my 3 blogs no
6. Send thank you’s to people who stumbled my posts no
7. Spend at least an hour commenting and stumbling on others’ blogs no
8. Write one article no
9. Work on Elance profile for at least one hour no
10. Friend a few people on twitter (I’m cornerscribe) no
11. Spend two hours networking on Entrecard spent 1 hour
    

That’s terrible, isn’t it? I’m going to leave my goals the same for the upcoming week. Let’s try to do better, shall we?

1. Spend two hours on the novel
2. Spend two hours on the non-fiction grammar book I have in the works
3. Go through my e-mail
4. Find at least one new short story market
5. Write 3-4 blog posts for each of my 3 blogs
6. Send thank you’s to people who stumbled my posts
7. Spend at least an hour commenting and stumbling on others’ blogs
8. Write one article
9. Work on Elance profile for at least one hour
10. Friend a few people on twitter (I’m cornerscribe)
11. Spend two hours networking on Entrecard

Last week, I set some goals for this week. So, here I am to update you on how I did.

1. Go through my e-mail (not yet, but I plan to tonight)
2. Write 3-4 blog posts for each of my 3 blogs (done for 2 blogs, only 1 post for the third)
3. Send thank you’s to people who stumbled my posts (done)
4. Spend at least an hour commenting and stumbling on others’ blogs (done)
5. Write one article (done, and submitted it too)
6. Spend two hours on the non-fiction grammar book I have in the works (nope)
7. Spend two hours on the novel (ahem… nope)
8. Send one inquiry about guest blogging (done)
9. Spend two hours networking on Entrecard (done)
10. Find at least one new short story market (no)

While I didn’t accomplish everything I wanted to (obviously), I’m still pleased with the amount of work I did get finished. I think the real benefit of an exercise like this is getting MORE accomplished, not necessarily everything on the list.

And here’s my list for the upcoming week. Those items that didn’t get finished this week will get higher priority next. If you’re doing something similar on your own blog, leave a link in comments and I’ll link to you.

This week, my goal is to finish the following.

1. Spend two hours on the novel
2. Spend two hours on the non-fiction grammar book I have in the works
3. Go through my e-mail
4. Find at least one new short story market
5. Write 3-4 blog posts for each of my 3 blogs
6. Send thank you’s to people who stumbled my posts
7. Spend at least an hour commenting and stumbling on others’ blogs
8. Write one article
9. Work on Elance profile for at least one hour
10. Friend a few people on twitter (I’m cornerscribe)
11. Spend two hours networking on Entrecard