7 Writing Tips To Improve Your Productivity

Writer's Life

Hey,

How time flies. Welcome to a new month of December. I’m beginning to smell Christmas over here.

In my last blog post, I shared with you on how to boost your productivity and writing skills  in the post titled An Unexpected Way To Express Yourself. From the statistic of those that read that post, I'm quite sure  that many readers enjoyed it.  For those of you that visited my blog, I will say thank you!

In today’s post I’m going to share with you an interesting post written by Shelley Hitz. The post has to writing tips on productivity. He highlighted seven important tips that can help writers to write well thereby improving their productivity. Sit back and digest these points below.

Writing Tip #1: Schedule your time

One sure-fire way to increase productivity is to schedule a specific time to write every day. Give your writing time priority and schedule a block of time, just as you would schedule a doctor’s appointment, a conference call, or a meeting with a friend for coffee. You also want to have it on your calendar for a set duration of time. It could be 15 minutes, one hour, two hours, an afternoon, or an entire weekend. Choose whatever works best for you and schedule it. You’ve got to fight for your right to write!

Writing Tip #2: Set goals

Once you have your time booked, set a writing goal. It doesn’t have to be a big one. Sometimes you simply want to write a blog post, or you need to write an email in your auto responder series. You don’t need to be working on a book every minute that you set aside, just make sure your writing goal is realistic for you and the time you’ve allotted.

If this is your first time setting a goal for a writing session, set what you think makes sense and then reevaluate the goal after your session is over so you can set more realistic goals in the future.

You can make it very specific, or you can make it project-oriented, but give yourself a target to work towards as you write. You might say:

“I’ll write one chapter in my book,”

“I’ll write one section in one chapter,”

“I’ll write the introduction to my book,”

“I’ll write one 500 word blog post.”

“I’ll write 1,000 words on __________________.”

“I’ll write …”

Writing Tip #3: Have everything ready

You know what often happens? You’ll sit down to write and then you think, “I’m thirsty, I need to go get my water.” Or, “I’m feeling kind of hungry, I’m going to go get a snack.” Or, “I don’t have my notebook, or my pen, or those research notes I need,” and then you go searching for those items and the time you set aside for writing gets whittled away.

This writing time deserves to be uninterrupted. Don’t edit. Don’t research. Just write and finish your task.It might help to make a check list of the things you want to have ready before you write, including:

Notes or research you’ve done

A pen and paper

Have a few snacks ready

Water

Earphones, if you want music or background noise

Finally, dress in comfortable clothes. If you’re fidgeting and you’re uncomfortable, that can distract you from your writing as well.

Writing Tip #4: Create an outline

I know some of you resist outlines. Even for those of you who aren’t super organized and normally aren’t prone to using lists, I still recommend you use an outline. When you start with an outline, you’re not going to have writer’s block as often because you know what you’re going to write about in that session. It makes it so much easier. You have a plan. You can even add that to you list of project goals:

 Today I’ll write an outline for the first three chapters of my book.”You can get as detailed as you want, but even with a basic outline, when you sit down to write, you’re not looking at a blank screen. You have bullet points and a plan for your writing session.

Writing Tip #5: Be accountable

Accountability can happen in many ways. For my Author Audience Academy members, we meet monthly for a group writing accountability session called the “Writers’ Block Party.” We share our goals and what we’re planning to get done. I also have a writing accountability forum, where people can post their writing goals for the other forum members to see.

But why not public accountability on social media? Post something like, “Hey, I’m logging off Facebook for three hours to write. I’ll check back when I’m done.” Or find an accountability partner. It doesn’t have to be an author, maybe a friend who is committed to exercising regularly. You can keep each other accountable for your personal goals.

Writing Tip 6: Use the Pomodoro Technique

Have you heard of this? Basically, what you do is you set a goal, and then focus on it for 25 minutes. Set a timer for 25 minutes and really focus on the task you’ve set. When that 25 minutes is up, no matter where you’re at in the process, stop for a five-minute break. Get up, stretch, get the blood flowing, get a snack. Do something other than writing.

That’s the gist of the Pomodoro Technique. It’s powerful when you tell your brain, “I’m giving you one assignment for the next 25 minutes: to write.” These focused periods of time help you get more accomplished with writing and all other sorts of activities.

Writing Tip #7: Celebrate your progress

Actually, the first part of this step is to track your progress. That way, you know how many words that you wrote that day. Then, celebrate your progress. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t meet the specifics of every goal; celebrate the progress you’ve made, whether it’s two paragraphs or 2,000 words. 

The more you get in the habit of writing, the more you get to reward yourself. That will result in more positive feelings associated with your writing time, and more motivation to keep at it.

If you have any comments to drop, do so in the box below. Thanks!

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