Most of my clients are part-time authors. They’ve got demanding full-time jobs and full calendars. They’ve got important relationships. Here are some tips I developed working with my amazing clients.
What works for most people will probably work for you. Try what works for most other people first.
The most productive time for most people starts about an hour after waking up and lasts for between 2.5 and 3 hours.
Most people work best in 50-minute blocks, followed by breaks of around 20 minutes. That’s been true for most of my clients, but some of them had to work up to it.
Most people do their best work when they work on a regular writing schedule and write in the same place every time.
What works for most people may not work for you. Circumstances may conspire to make it impossible for you to do things the way I suggest.
Find what works for you. Experiment to find what works best.
Keep records. Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman said, “You must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest to fool.” He was right. We give ourselves credit for work we didn’t complete. We remember that we spent more time working than we did.
Save your brainpower for writing. Make your writing time only for writing. Do your research and other things at other times.
You will get lots of good ideas and insights. Capture them with a notebook, notecards, or a digital voice recorder, your phone, and anything else that works for you.
Plan your next writing session as the last act of your current writing session. That way, when you come back to write, you can start writing and not worry about what to do.
Take what life gives you and control what you can. Life will happen. The universe always wins.
Don’t steal time from sleep. When your brain is fresh, you can write well. When your brain is tired, you can’t.
Habits are the ultimate brain automation. Develop habits that make routine tasks and choices routine.
Use checklists to make sure you get every little thing done.
Use reminders and alarms to help you stay on track during the day.
These tips worked for me and my clients. They should work for you, too.