Silly Little Motivators

DEBORAH CROMBIE: While only some of us have deadlines, all of us sometimes need a bit of help getting through our daily to-do lists, and we all have little tricks to encourage ourselves. When I'm trying to meet my writing goals, for instance, I give myself the grown-up equivalent of  gold stars. For every productive writing sprint during the day, I get to add a snippet of book-spined washi tape for that period in my weekly planner. (Washi tape is decorative masking tape, used for journaling and crafts.) The more words I've written, the bigger the piece of tape. I know this sounds really silly, but nothing makes me happier than looking back at my week and seeing two or three big sections of book tape in every day's column. I give myself a big pat on the back.

 

Here's a dummy page with a perfect writing day! (I'm not showing anyone a real page, as I use the weekly planner to write down EVERYTHING, from the weather to what we had for dinner, and they are VERY messy.)

 

 

I also write easy things on my to-do list just so I can cross them off. (I'll bet I'm not the only one.) This works on the theory that if I feel like I'm productive, I am more productive. Makes sense, right?

And there are the little daily rituals. If I write until five o'clock, I can have a cup of tea and half a piece of shortbread to keep me at the computer until dinner. Hey, it works, and that's usually my best writing sprint of the day. (It's probably the caffeine and the smidgen of sugar kicking my brain into gear…)

Of course, food rewards can be tricky, as I"m sure we all know. Just don't anybody mention cupcakes, or I might be in big trouble. 

 

Reds, what are your secret little motivators for getting things done?

RHYS BOWEN:  Debs, I would find that tape stressful, I know. It would stick to the wrong things, get tangled up. I’m hopeless with sticky tape

I got Rocket book for Christmas. It is a notebook you can erase when you are done. Also you take a shot with the smart phone app and a note is transferred to Evernote or what you use. I find it satisfying to erase those notes

I’m a morning person I like to get writing after breakfast and finish by lunchtime. Afternoon is for more secretarial stuff. I have to do five pages a day. I write the page numbers ahead in my agenda and I’m thrilled when I get ahead 

Having said that I’ve been so stressed at living with constant worry that I’m not working at my usual speed. Do you find it’s hard to find energy?

HALLIE EPHRON: Lists do it for me. So satisfying, I agree, to tick the boxes. But my lists (I confess) or more so I won’t forget rather than as motivation. My brain is a complete sieve when it comes to remembering to do stuff… and then there are the times when I do it AGAIN because I’ve forgotten that I did it. 

 

 

LUCY BURDETTE: Yes lists are good, if I can find them. Right now with puppy chaos in our house, nothing paper can be left within reach. And we’re all out on the porch until it gets too cold, so my stuff is very disorganized. If I have a deadline (right now I don’t other than what I suggest to myself), I try for 1000 words a day. I can’t quite picture the sticky tape or an erasable journal, but hey--whatever works is good! And Rhys yes, life is far from normal right now so it makes sense that we don’t feel normal.

JENN McKINLAY: It used to be coconut M&Ms. I could have one M&M for every paragraph completed. Alas, they stopped making those. Now, I reward myself with a swim in the pool at mid-afternoon, followed by a cup of Yukon Gold tea, if I get my pages done. If not, I have to keep working. The hardest bit for me is getting started and I wish I could come up with a reward system that would kickstart that. It’s amazing how I will fritter time away until two in the afternoon and then have a blind panic of writing just so I can go swimming. Argh.

DEBS: Jenn, that's either very long paragraphs or a lot of M&Ms! And I've never heard of coconut M&Ms. 

Jenn, if you figure out the reward system to get the writing going earlier, let me know. I do exactly the same thing, but I don't have a pool as a carrot.

 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: My organizing stuff is definitely a work in progress: I've been trying to improve and come up with ways to keep track of my to-dos for some time now. It's very much not something that comes naturally for me.

 

As for motivation, I like to treat myself with entertainment/news. If I get my word count done, I can watch a movie tonight. If I answer all my emails, I can hop on Twitter for a half hour. For some tasks, I motivate myself by doing something at the same time. For instance, while

walking the dog, I'll listen to a podcast with headphones, or make dinner while tuning the radio to All Things Considered. If I've knocked off everything I had to do today, I kick back and read in the evening.

 

Okay, I also read if I haven't gotten everything done.

 

And I agree with Jenn, getting started writing is the worst, because you can't stop and reward yourself - that negates the whole idea of starting! Maybe a chair that gives you a backrub if you start typing?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, getting started! SO hard. Ridiculously, I make an appointment with myself. I say, okay, you can do anything you want, guilt free, until ______. Then I pick a time that’s on the hour or half hour, because you can only start at those times.

Sometimes that works.

 

Oh, Rhys, I would NOT want to erase. I love looking at all the things I‘ve done. It’s my gold star. And I used to keep a running list, but that got too difficult during the pandemic. Now I have a notebook that I mark as one day per page, so I can use it as a planner, too.

 

Why didn’t I just get a calendar/planner with the dates already on it? Too logical.  I had a perfect notebook, and it works just fine. 

 

Totally put things in that I did that weren’t on to-do the list so I can cross them off. Well, of COURSE. It’s not even strange.

 

And you know I have a timer. I set the Alexa for 34 minutes when I start writing, and when I say: Alexa, set the timer for 34 minutes, I cannot do anything but write. That absolutely works.

DEBS: Why 34 minutes, Hank? Not 30, or 45? Is it the magic number? But I'm with you on the not wanting to erase the things I've done. The checking off is so satisfying. And besides, if I erased things, I might not remember that I've done them...

 

READERS, how about you? What helps you get things done?

Time Management for Writers

JENN McKINLAY: Last week, one of our readers (I’m looking at you, Lisa Alber ) asked that I talk about time management for writers. I did some thinking on it, trying to figure out if I have any tips and tricks worth sharing and I’m not sure that I do, but I’m happy to break down what works for me in the hopes that it might work for someone else as well.

The Stats: I write four to six books per year in two different genres with varying page counts. Combined it adds up to approximately 2,000 pages or 487,000 words annually. I write three hundred and sixty-five days per year -- even weekends and holidays. Yes, I’m a badass or crazy or a crazy badass. LOL! So, who wants to go for beers with me? I’m just kidding, I don’t have time. Again, I’m kidding! It’s all smoke and mirrors, because when you do the math out a little further, I only have to write five pages per day to reach my goal. Easy peasy!

Now the full disclosure: I don’t actually write five pages a day. I write ten pages most days, as in Monday through Friday, and then I revise and edit on the weekend. If I don’t write every day, I start to go a little sideways. It’s sort of like brushing my teeth – I’m a compulsive brusher to combat all of the sugar I eat – I feel weird, out of sorts, off-kilter and otherwise all around wrong if I don’t brush my teeth every morning and night. Writing is the same way for me. I have all the same off balance feelings if I don’t write every day. Truly, it’s a compulsion but I didn’t start here from the get go. My style of working is years in the making. So, where did I begin?

I started writing with a specific goal in mind -- finish the book -- in 1995. I sold my first book in 2001. I was on deadline for four years, writing romantic comedies for Harlequin, until the market dried up with my last book coming out in 2005. I didn’t sell again, mysteries this time, until 2008. Afraid the market would vanish again (it has – but that’s another post), I decided writing five series at a time was a great idea. It was. I hit the New York Times, I made a nice living and was able to leave my part-time job behind to be a full-time writer. Yay...and ugh!

When the Hooligans were little, I got up two hours earlier than they did and wrote before I was in full on Mom mode. I also wrote when they napped, and if I could manage it, I wrote after they went to bed. Things I didn’t do were watch television, surf the Internet, or read (gasp!). I know. It is shocking but when you have finite time to achieve your goals, adjustments (hard ones) must be made. I have zero recall on what shows, movies, and books were popular during the aughts. Seriously, if Sesame Street didn’t cover it, I was lost.

Now even with the hooligans older and in school, the time management is still a challenge but that’s because multiple deadlines breathe fire like a many headed dragon and you can’t mess around while slaying them or they will eat you alive, so I still don’t watch regular television or aimlessly surf the Internet, but I do have time to read again, and I read everything, for which I am so grateful. In fact, that is my reward when the work is done for the day. I get to read. Big happy sigh here.

So, that is the journey that carved out the following time management rules by which I live. I hope they help.

      1. Writing time is sacred. There are no errands or appointments to    be made during writing time. None.

      2. Figure out your most creatively productive time of day (mine is late morning through early afternoon and again in the evening) and make that your sacred time and guard it fiercely with a sword at the ready if need be.

      3. If you can’t work during your best time, make another time your sacred time. Seriously, I hated getting up at 5 AM to write but it was the only time I had. If being a writer is truly important to you, you will make the time.

      4. Set a realistic page count to hit each day. Do not call it a day until the page count is done. I have fallen asleep and drooled all over my keyboard, trying to get to my page count. Seems daunting? Think of it this way, a 75,000 wd book can be accomplished in less than a year (approx. 325 days) by writing one page per day. ONE PAGE! Come on, you got this!

      5. Stop watching TV. Stop cleaning stuff that doesn’t need it (I used to clean my oven – a lot). Stop looking at other people’s phony lives on Fakebook. You’re a novelist! In a year, they’ll be looking at your book – and it will be real! If you can’t control your Internet surf time, install a Waste No Time app on your computer. Mine kicks me out of all social media after 30 minutes. Here’s a link to help you out: http://www.businessinsider.com/13-best-apps-to-stop-wasting-time-2015-10

      6. Find a buddy to encourage you along your way. There’s nothing like accountability to others to motivate. Try to find a pal that is firm but gentle or a mean one, if you really need it. You can also go full tilt and try to write your novel in one month by joining NaNoWriMo: http://nanowrimo.org 

    Those people make me look like a slacker!

      7. And this one isn’t time management so much as writing advice but it factors into time management, so here it is – lose yourself in your story. If your characters are scared, you should be twitching with nerves. If they are sad, you had better be crying. The opposite is true, too. If you find your characters are boring or the scene you are trying to write is boring – guess what? It’s boring. Flip it on its head until it’s interesting to you and it will be interesting to your readers, too. For me, after so many years, writing is like falling down a rabbit hole. I have worked through dinners, school pickups, and doctors’ appointments because I got swept up in the story and forgot where I was and what I was supposed to be doing. Oops!

Pro tip: Forgiveness can usually be had for a signed book or a chocolate milkshake.

So, how about you, Reds? What’s your best time management advice?