Today, the awesome and amazing Margaret Yang is visiting the HelpforWriters blog to talk about time management. Margaret is a science fiction writer who recently gave a talk on time management at the Ann Arbor Writers Conference. Managing the 24 hours we’re all given in a single day is key for writers, and Margaret shares five awesome tips everyone can use. Take it away, Margaret!
First, a big thank you to Lara for hosting me on her blog today. Thanks, Lara!
When people find out that I write every day, they say, “Wow, you’re really disciplined.” Wrong! I’m the least disciplined person I know. Or they say, “I wish I had time to write.” As if my days somehow had more hours than theirs. However, I’m pretty good at managing the 24 hours I have. Here are five important things to think about when scheduling time to write.
1. Writing doesn’t just happen. You can’t expect the time to magically appear. You might think that all it takes is willpower, or perhaps desire. After all, if you want it badly enough, you’ll write, right? Discipline and desire are fine once you get to the desk, but if you haven’t made a single minute in your day to write, no amount of discipline will help you. I promise you, if you expect to write in your “spare” time, you won’t write. If you put writing last, it won’t get done last—it won’t get done, period.
2. You WILL give something up. Absolutely everyone, from kids and retirees, has a life packed to the brim. The only way to make room for writing is by giving something up. Make sure you give up the right thing. A book written at the cost of time with your kids is a book that cost you too much. A book written while giving up television is a bargain! (A book written at the cost of a clean house is a borderline situation. Go with your gut on this one.)
3. You need a to-do list. Every single day. It doesn’t have to be in neat time blocks. Just make a list of thing to do and the probable order in which you will do them. If you don’t make a list, you will stumble through your day. I like to make two lists, one for morning and one for afternoon. If I finish the morning list before lunch, I do NOT start on the afternoon list. I take a writing break instead. When I finish my afternoon list, it’s more writing time. You can even do a triple list, morning, afternoon, evening, and sneak in three writing periods a day.
4. You not only have to manage your time, you have to manage your energy. If you schedule a busy day (or if a busy day is scheduled for you), even if you leave yourself a block of two hours at the end of it, you will not have the energy to write after a day of being drained by the world. I wish I could go all day and write all night, but I can’t. And neither can you. But it’s not okay to use a busy day as an excuse to stop writing, either. (Remember point #1?) I only see two ways around this problem. The first is to get up earlier, and use the energy at the beginning of the day instead of trying to find energy at the end. You’ll still be tired at the end of the day no matter what, so isn’t it better to be tired knowing you’ve already written? The second is to find pockets of free time during the day to do bits of writing. This is where morning and afternoon to-do lists come in handy. Time pockets are everywhere, from lunch hours to bus commutes to kids’ sports practices. It might be more tempting to save up your time for the end of the day, thinking you’ll be more productive in a large chunk. It’s an illusion. You won’t have a large chunk because something else will always fill it, and even if you have the hours, you’ll be too tired at the end of a day to use them effectively. And I’m not just talking to the morning people here! Dealing with the world demands your creative energy no matter when you do it.
5. Learn to say “no.” Remember point number two, about giving something up? A good place to start is by cutting back on volunteering. School and church and hobby organizations always need people and helping feels good. Many of us are secretly worried that people won’t like us if we don’t do our share. But saying “no” will not hurt your social standing in the least. When my kids were little, I used to volunteer in their classrooms all the time. I was the cool mom. Now they are older, and I hardly volunteer at all, and guess what? I’m still cool. When I stop by school, the teachers know who I am, the principal knows who I am, the other mommies still like me. The truth is, if you give these organizations 24 hours a day, they will want 25. The pit is literally bottomless. You cannot fill it. But here’s another truth. Every time I’ve said no to a volunteer organization, the task still got done. They always find someone else to do it.
You’re a super busy person. Believe me, I know you are. I am too. I’m also a person who likes to write a lot, and I’ve structured my days to make that happen.
And you can too.
Want to learn more about time management for writers? Want to learn more about Margaret Yang? Visit her at her webpage www.yangandcampion.com
15 Comments
Margaret, thanks for sharing your fabulous advice.
In business school, I had a professor who told us “I don’t have time” actually means “I choose to spend my time on things that matter to me more.” We all have the same 24 hours so how you choose to pass your 24 speaks to what you value most — or at least, it should.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become much tougher about my priorities. If I want to get to the gym, take piano lessons, eat good dinners and still have time to write, something’s got to give. My rule of thumb is that if something isn’t making me feel good, if it isn’t uplifting me, inspiring me, teaching me, offering me some kind of benefit, it’s out. Even some things that would pass that test have to get cut because I need to prioritize.
I might disagree with you ever so slightly on #4. I tend to find my writing mojo best after dinner, so if I prioritize, that’s a great time to write for me. I think for me, that’s a different way to manage my energy. I don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting up early and writing — Will. Not. Happen. — and I know that. So we all need to know our own physical and emotional selves.
Excellent post!
This is a fantastic post, Margaret. Saying no to people is one of the things I have the most trouble with. I like to think I’m getting better at it, but my schedule isn’t showing that. Thanks for the wonderful reminders!
I love the advice about finding (and utilizing) pockets of time, versus huge chunks. It’s true that the big chunks will always get filled with something else. Thanks for an awesome post!
Historian Shelby Foote carefully hand-wrote one page every day. In a year he had enough for a rough draft. William Rehnquist wrote on his lunch breaks. It adds up.
Great post! I can’t say no either. I gave up my early mornings to write. I get up when no one else is awake. By the time they get up for school, work, etc, my writing is done. I use pockets of time for promoting and chatting.
Thanks for sharing these tips!
Amber, great thought about using “pockets” not just for writing but for promoting and chatting!
I loved this post! The hardest thing I had to do was give up my volunteer positions so that I had enough time and energy to devote to my writing.
Wow, Paris. It speaks volumes that you’d sacrifice that deeply for your writing. Best of luck with all your work!
Great advice Margaret. Although, I’m too much of a night person to actually get up early and write. I do steal pockets of time. Even at family get-togethers – I write while the others are watching football or a race. It adds up. I do need to work on saying no a bit more often though.
I love the idea of writing at family get-togethers! That you can tune out the activity and focus is super impressive. Rock on!
Excellent advice, Margaret! I particularly applaud your comments about having to make choices about what you’re going to let go of in order to make the time you need to do your writing. I’ve seen too many writers crash and burn because they tried to write AND do everything else.
Thanks!
Warmly,
Lisabet
Great post, Margaret!!! I need to remember to use pockets of time during the day. I’m definitely one for trying to get a chunk of time to write. Doesn’t work out so well for me all the time
Excellent post Margaret! We all need time management! Some great nuggets in there. Also, you mentioned an Ann Arbor conference. I am relocating to the other side of the state and need to find a new writing group. Can you send me some information? Thanks,
Wendy
W.S. Gager – A Case of Accidental Intersection – just released!
I struggle so much with this. I’m a writing bulimic: hours and hours on one day until it eats into other things, then nothing for the next two while I catch up on said other things.
I’ve started keeping a time log, so I can see what I’m really doing and when. I’ve also found my to-do list somewhat less oppressive if I write in fun things. And use stickers. I know I’m supposed to have outgrown sticker charts years ago, but they’re more fun than crossing things off and it’s a good way to use leftover scrapbook supplies.
I also think that if we’re brutally honest with ourselves, finding time to write can be a matter of replacing a bad habit with a good one.
Ann, I’m much the same way. I wish I had a better writing “diet,” so to speak, but it’s just not how I roll. I often wonder if some day I’ll have to really pare back on social media and replace that habit, as it were, to make more room for writing. We’ll see. Thanks for the super insightful comment!