Time Management for Writers

Thanks, Skyraven!

I checked it out on Google books and it looks very helpful!!

Not sure if I dare to put a written note 'I'm working' or a working schedule on the fridge or so..?? (I've said it to family members last week though & felt quite FAB! They DID leave me alone then mostly! Though I was on a deadline. - Do I dare to do it without a deadline too?!)

Okay, she says to just GIVE yourself a self-imposed deadline!! Here's a thought!!
(I like it!)

And rewards for meeting your writing goals - hmm..?!! (What could it possibly be? )

Very inspiring interview here too: http://wow-womenonwriting.com/16-FE-KellyStone.html (I took notes! )

I also thought to have a 'family evening' each evening, to dicuss next day plans and menu plans etc. (Even with one, it's not always easy for my folks to remember everything to tell me in advance!!) Ideally, we'd discuss each week/month in advance too. I'm trying to write down what needs to be done on the farm/in the garden too, so for next year I'd have a blueprint of sorts.. (I'm pretty much a newbie in gardening and farm life too..) I've already done this for some holidays (which were a major case of upheaval and frenzy chez nous, due to certain family members expecting mind-reading powers, and as result we've had calmer holidays for a few years.)

I really like her ideas to write in a library or at a friend's place or so... (People would faint here if I wrote in a cafe, methinks.. We're so rural.. Even the library seems too small to do any serious work there, or the kiddies playing computer games can be too loud..) If I could just find a peaceful place to do work in?

The 'home office' aka 2nd kitchen downstairs is not so noise-free and smell-free as I had hoped, and often other work is done there too.. (Like making jams/tomato sauce/handling beans..) Later on it will be colder too, so the attic guest room/office might be best again.. I'm thinking I need to come up with plans for different seasons, as working conditions and demands for garden/farm work change so radically...

Thanks!

ATP, at your suggestion I *did* go to Amazon and did the search for 'time management productivity'.. There are A LOT of books on this there though!!

Any specific ones that you would recommend? I do intend to *finally* get Getting Things Done.. I found some aspects of it online and have been doing it on and off in a tweaked way... Maybe there are things that make more sense after you actually read the book though?

Getting Things Done When You Are Not in Charge seems possibly helpful too.. Or any of the other books on trying to coordinate a bunch of different people with different priorities..

I also googled 'How to Prioritize' - this is a big one for me too.. I actually *do* have time to work at times and then just get bamboozled at what to do, cause there's so much stuff I'd like to have done already... And then often have ended up doing 'nothing' much..

Our libraries here in Slovenia don't have so many of these books, especially the local ones.. Amazon may actually be cheaper than an interlibrary loan, especially since you get to keep the book (if you like it).

I am trying the 'let's talk about what we'll do (and cook) tomorrow' the evening before, and it seems helpful. It still needs fine-tuning.. For example, yesterday Mum said 'I'll cook marmalade' - and then it turned out we were all expected to help with preparing etc!! (Of course she told me that when I was in the middle of something on the computer!) It's driving me bonkers when she says 'I' instead of 'we'...
Also, Dad 'doesn't know' if he'll be needed at relatives' farm to help, or not.. They usually ring him up in the morning.. Basically this would mean 'drawing up' two 'maybe' plans for Dad and us (cause if he is home and bored he may wind up doing something to frazzle us up again or distract from working!)
They refused to have a proper planner or notebook, so I wrote on the wall calendar the other day - this seems to work best, hope it won't get too cluttered..

I know a successful business woman who lived and had a home office in her parents' home after her divorce, and she was still frazzled by her Mum at 60!! (With requests on 'This needs to be done right now' and guilt trips!) So.. I'd like to educate my folks and help them get more organized too, so we could all be more effective and productive and happier.. Not sure if it's possible though?

Words Are My Life, thanks for sharing your schedules too!

It's good to see how different people go about things!
I wish I could be more of a morning person.. I like it how you divide your life into 'work' and 'after-work' activities.. I still have troubles with clear divisions.. between work and non-work, fiction and non-fiction..

ATP, Thanks!

ATP said:

I had suggested Amazon search with the advanced search in mind: title search: time management: keywords: writer, freelance, and title search: productivity, keywords: writer, freelance. Try other keywords in conjunction with both those suggested title searches.

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I wasn't quite sure what you had in mind, this clarifies it!

Getting Things Done by David Allen is a very popular book in this area.

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Have you read it and have you found it helpful?
I managed to get it (YAY!! ) and am reading it now.. I've done some bits before, the book does explain and clarify a lot, so hopefully I'll come up with a workable system...
There seems to be some overlap with 'Organized Writer' (project lists etc), not quite sure yet how to set it all up

Another book in the area, but with a scope beyond just time management / personal productivity, is The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey. He goes into a description on how to make such changes fit into a wider program on how to change /make over your life and attitudes.He has a daily weekly monthly scheduling along with roles and goals. This is fine, but like me, you might have to just try and brush over his distinctly North American focus & being culture bound. Though, I am sure that his intended audience are those living in North America.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_People

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I've read it years ago and found it quite interesting.
I also have the other book by Stephen Covey (the one with 4 quadrants). I found it interesting and partly helpful too, then found myself slightly 'lost' and without a 'system' again...

I do find myself nodding to a lot that David Allen writes. When you go from top to bottom, and include 'things that really matter', it gets muuch more stressful!!

Sorry, I should have paid more attention, and the fact that you're living in Slovenia.(This was the old Eastern Europe, correct?) The library system infrastructure may not be as developed as I would think in such a country as Germany.

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No prob, we like to think of ourselves as 'Central Europe' though.. We're the northern-most republic of ex-Yugoslavia, close to Italy and Austria.. Yugoslavia was a 'buffer-zone' between East and West anyway..

Some lovely libraries here, some also have fab selections, it's easier to get them to order books in Slovenian language than in English though, and some books just aren't available here...

You mention farming, so I guess that you live in a rural setting, quite some distance from the nearest major city library. Is this correct? Then you might try book exchanges, or book clubs, or perhaps second hand book shops.

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Yup, rural settings Thing is some of these books are not even in major cities, but at smaller Universities quite 'out of the way'.. Not sure if we have book exchanges here, have checked the book club and 2nd hand shop in the nearest town.. By 'book club' you mean shops where you can buy books cheaper, right?

ETA: checked the title Getting Things Done When You Are Not In Charge--this is directed at middle management & support staff.
I think not strictly applicable to sole proprietors/independent operators, and removed from what you were seeking in the OP

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Yeah, I checked it on Amazon and was not so sure either.. Will try to do GTD first and see if I can get a working 'system'...

Was much calmer about life in general after deciding to try to get GTD working Also, discussing stuff with my folks last night actually got Dad working on one of my/our projects first thing in the morning, he he!

Mum still wanted me to go help in the garden when the electricity went out ('You can't do anything on the computer anyway') - which was totally unplanned, we've briefly talked about the work to be done a few days ago in a vague way ('sometime this week'), did not 'assign' it yesterday night though.
I'd like to maintain uniterrupted 'writing/project time' unless stuff has been previously discussed and assigned a specific date before, ideally confirmed the night before (I don't mind plans like 'if it rains...' and if it doesn't ...).
This does remind me to plan for different weather and electricity outage too..

A friend said her Mum is terribly chaotic and disorganized too, maybe it's just the ways of the older generations here? If you pick at them, they do come up with vague ideas of things to do and when they might do them, otherwise they 'just don't know' when they will do what...
They also never used to call people and announce themselves (Mum's friends do it too), they just come over and if people are home, they are home.. I just find it mindboggling, lol..

Inspired by ATP, I googled 'getting things done writers' and some helpful things popped up, like www.antonyjohnston.com/gtw/ - he's a comic book writer mainly, and designer, so he does it a bit differently. (Some of my background is in arts and I think visually, so I find it really interesting!)
I'm not sure how it would work together with articles/assignments, possibly just another line and a different time frame?

The funny thing is, I've done something similar (together with self-imposed deadlines) years ago when I first started my novel, and it was working.

I stopped doing it cause I never actually managed to stick to the deadlines self-imposed, that's probably irrelevant though as it had me writing and doing stuff.

I'm posting this in case someone else might find it helpful.

Another interesting tweak of GTD is Zen to Done http://zenhabits.net/2007/04/zen-to-done-ztd-the-ultimate-simple-productivity-system/
I've only read the online article, it seems a bit easier to implement it gradually than do the whole GTD at once..

There's even a slightly more ireverent GSD: [FONT=&quot]http://www.utilware.com/gsd3.html [/FONT](not sure how helpful it could be, some aspects like 'What's the next action?' instead of posting undoable fuzzy maybe-projects or reference material in the to-do list or pile seem helpful and thought-provoking).

I know some people at this forum will probably snicker at me for getting too much into this whole organizing/time management thing instead of 'just writing'. I hope some of what I post might be helpful to some others who may not be so 'naturally organized' or well-versed in time management and getting things done.

Thanks Matt!

I'll check it out. I don't want to get distracted with too many systems, so I'll just try a few things slowly, and try to implement more changes or tweak as we go along.

I was fairly productive the past few days, so I hope this stays and even improves!
Measuring time in 15 minute intervals and keeping up a challenge of how many words to write in Notepad seemed helpful. (No timer as such, as the program seemed to mess with my computer.) Also, am now on a deadline. Even if it's just by myself.

Even the thought of getting a working system is making me hopeful again...