Every 1st Wednesday of the month is a time for insecure writers to group together. This month, my mind is obsessed with time.
I have a bad habit of taking on more projects each day than can possibly be tackled in a 24hr period. My to-do lists grow into epic quests. Some of the projects I'm trying to juggle now are:
- Organise a launch, distribution and sales points for My Zombie Dog.
- Finish writing first draft to Undead Kev, sequel to My Zombie Dog.
- Edit/rewrite DOGNAPPED? My tween girl mystery.
- Find time to write my love project Warracknabeal Kids, a mystery set in 1939 outback Australia.
- Edit and submit short stories into competitions.
- Set myself up to run workshops at schools/libraries for creative writing.
- Together with my team, organise an Indie Expo for Australia's music, film, art and writing industry.
Each of these projects have many tasks to complete, and I want them all done NOW! I start to feel panicky, like I'm running late (I CAN'T run late EVER). Of course I also need to fit life in around these tasks.
I am taking steps to manage all these projects:
- Downloaded Pomodorable from the Mac App store. This uses the method of set time limits per task. You work on one task for twenty minutes, then take a ten minute break (stretch, move about).
- Morning pages - I write three pages longhand when I wake up. It's not always useful words, but it does push me to keep going.
- I'll (try to) limit my task numbers on my to-do list. Do you know if you have more than five tasks on your list you're less productive on each one? A to-do list needs to be achievable, otherwise it just becomes a reminder of failure and a form of punishment. I need that reward of ticking boxes.
So what do you do to manage time wisely? If it's time to write you need, you can check out this post:
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