No Routines This Week – and That’s Okay!

 

Photo credit: uwekern via Pixabay

 

I try to stick to the same writing routine every week: Work on my books, do things for the press (which includes reading submissions), work on the newsletter, work on my book reviews, and spend time writing something, as well as revising and editing whatever currently needs revising and editing. In between all this, I’m also responding to emails and doing anything needed for self-publishing that can’t wait for the weekend.

 

But this particular week was different. While I was able to work on a couple of books this week (only two, alas!), I mostly focused on the things that I HAD to get done this week. If there’s something I need to have done by a particular date, then I put as much focus on this thing as I can. Since I work on many different things every day, in addition to the books, I don’t spend my whole day working on just that thing. I DO spend more of my time working on it, but not all of my time.

 

And that’s what happened this week. I have an article due next week, plus the newsletter to send out, so I spent some time working on the article and wrapping up gathering things to include in the newsletter. But I also had to finish a book review by the 20^th, since that is the last day to post a review on my book review blog so that I can include it in the SPARREW Newsletter (this is true for every month except for October and December, when I try to post a review of a holiday-themed book on those holidays). The 20^th of every month is the cut-off date for gathering material to include in the newsletter, and that includes reviews that are posted on my book review blog (with an exception for those two other dates).  

 

The problem is that I got so caught up on the same routine I had in place for the week that it was hard to accept a week that was a little bit different. (My weekends are free days. No schedules and no routines.) Change is always hard for me. I know that change is good and that it’s okay if one week is different from the last, but it can be difficult for me to just go with it. I need plenty of time to adjust to the idea of change and prepare myself for it. I like my routines and I like the way I have everything organized so that I can accomplish my goals.

 

But sometimes, there are other goals that I need to accomplish too – such as meeting a deadline and sending out my newsletter. And while I try to give myself as much time as possible to work on both of those things, the week of that deadline or sending the newsletter out is when I REALLY need to focus on it and make sure both of those things are taken care of. I hyperfixate on them to the point where I forget about everything else that I normally do – such as revising a short story for an anthology deadline.

 

Which meant that, this week, I was really focused on getting that book review done. And I’ll be doing the same thing next week to make sure I get that article done and ready to submit in time, along with publishing the newsletter online.

 

My hyperfixation on getting things done sort of clashes with my need to stick to my routine, though. As much as I kept telling myself that this is only temporary and I can go back to my regular routine soon, it was hard to accept. I kept looking at those two pages of the week in my planner and feeling like I could have done more.

 

Oh, sure I could have – if I never slept. But even writers have to sleep.

 

Yes, I’ll get back to my regular schedule after my deadlines are met. The month is almost over and that means making sure I meet that article deadline AND get the SPARREW Newsletter out. And once those things are taken care of, I’ll go right back to my writing routines. I just need to remind myself that it’s okay if there are times – weeks, even – when I am not following those routines, because there’s something else that is more important at that time.

How Breaking Down My Writing Goal Boosted My Productivity and Helped Me Complete More Writing Projects

 

 

Whenever a week ends, I spend time reviewing the work I managed to get done as it was recorded in my planner. If I didn’t do a certain thing that week, I’d make a note to get it done next week. One thing I often noticed when I did this last year was that I wasn’t getting as much work done on my books as I would have liked. Yes, I did manage to write a poetry book and a few children’s books last year, but not much else.

 

So I made a decision that this would change in the new year.

 

In the early days of my writing, I would make it a point to write, revise and edit something every day – because I often had a lot of material to write, revise and edit! This was especially true when I got to the point where I wrote a bunch of books and didn’t do much else with them.  

 

So before the new year started, I developed one writing goal: To work on at least one of my books every day. And not only this, but I decided that what I would do is write, revise and edit a book every day. Because I DO have book manuscripts that need to be written, revised and edited!

 

I was not specific about this new goal, however, so I made sure I wrote exactly what I would write, revise and edit.

 

 

However, as I began to execute this plan, I realized that the order of my tasks did not work for me. So I changed them around since I’m more creative in the mornings.

 

Thanks to having this breaking down of my writing goal, I have managed to get writing done in a book every day. I have even gotten work done in two books in a single day. I think that making working on my books a priority may have created the mindset to get ‘er done every day, but I would like to think that my writing goal for this year may have helped too.

 

But unfortunately, there are going to be days when I can only get work done on one book – be it the writing, revising or editing. I realized this when that very day came along this week.

 

 

One of the things that I REALLY like about this arrangement is that, no matter what happens in my day, I will STILL get some work done on my writing goal: Focusing on writing a book. That Tuesday that I was unable to do ANY other writing? I still got some writing done in a book, because I worked on it first thing in the morning.

 

And that’s one other thing I realized as I put this writing goal into practice: The mornings are the best time for me to write. Yes, there are some mornings when I wake up feeling like death (and I learned to switch around my routine on just such occasions), but for the mornings when I wake up feeling refreshed and energized, I get to the desk and start writing! So if I get the writing in a book done in the morning, then at least I got THAT done even if I can’t do the other things.

 

But as I moved through my days going about this routine, I had to ask myself something: What about all the other things that I need to write, revise and edit? I have a bunch of short stories, essays, articles and poems that I need to write, revise and edit as well. Heck, I have a whole LIST of books and short stories to write!

 

I could not neglect these things.

 

So I revised my writing goal just a bit, and in the process, took advantage of that time I was setting aside to write, revise and edit. For each session, I would also write, revise and edit whatever other thing I had on the table that needed this kind of attention. Sometimes I will write, revise and edit more than one thing if I have the time and energy.

 

 

 

I love this arrangement SO MUCH BETTER than the original one. Because even if there is no writing done in a book, the writing, revising and editing will still happen that day, just for other things. Like with today, for example. I didn’t write in the book I started writing this year. Instead, I interviewed a couple of people for it. But this is for the book, so something was still done for a book I’m writing. And I STILL did some writing – in this blog post and also in an article I plan to finish writing today. So the writing, revising and editing still happens each day even if that writing, revising and editing doesn’t happen for a book.

 

So far, this routine is going well in helping me to achieve my writing goal. But it also did something else: It boosted my productivity.

 

BEFORE:

  

AFTER: 

 

Thanks to this boost in productivity, I am getting more work done every day and I am moving ever-closer to FINALLY completing the work on other writing projects too. For example, there is one short story I really needed to finish revising, but I just worked on it whenever I had the time. Or remembered to work on it. Now that I make revising short stories a priority, I revise them, edit them, and send them off. Then I move on to the next one!

 

This has shown in my work on the books too. I get more work done on them faster and can move on to the next book to work on in better time.

 

And because I have other things going on – reviewing books, doing research for my various projects, working on my newsletter and of course the work for the press – I made it a point to start working on those in between my writing, revising and editing sessions. This has helped me to achieve balance in meeting certain obligations while also working on my books and other writing projects.

 

This type of arrangement may not be for everyone, but it works for me, and I’m thrilled with how well it has helped me complete work on books and writing projects on a much better timeline than I had before. Breaking down my writing goal has really helped me figure out the best way to achieve it. As long as I follow the structure, I will finish working on my books and get more writing done for other things too.