Productivity Tips #3 to #6
This month I am cracking on with writing a new novel for my murder mystery series. I’m joining hundreds of thousands of other writers on a monumental wave of creativity by surfing my way to 50,000 words in one month.
It’s called NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and you can find out more about it here in a previous post.
I say surfing but I feel like I'm clinging onto the board for dear life, terrified I'll fall into the depths of distraction and procrastination.
I joined an online group put together by the enigmatic Henry C. Blanchard and, like the drill sergeant in the film Full Metal Jacket, he’s been cajoling, encouraging and berating us to get our words written. He’s even threatened to donate money to UKIP if we fail to reach our targets! Nothing like a bit of tough love to get you going in morning.
Speaking of mornings I’ve been setting my alarm at 5am every day. It’s harder and harder to roll out of the warm bed and turn on the laptop each day but once I do I’m away and loving it.
I must confess to a crafty 20 minute sleep in the early evening most days. I was meant to be watching the sprog one evening and she somehow managed to trash the entire lounge with all of her toys while I was kipping on the sofa. ‘We’re having a picnic, Daddy,’ was her excuse.
Anyway, I feel like I’ve been progressing well and I’ve passed the 10,000 word mark already which is nice.
As part of being in Henry’s WIIN (Write It In November) team, I’ve taken it upon myself to hand out some unsolicited advice to the group on a daily basis. Here are the tips from the last few days:
Productivity Tip #3 – Pomodoro Timer
A Pomodoro Timer is a small tomato shaped timer. Why it is shaped like a tomato is anyone’s guess?
The theory is that the brain can only concentrate on one thing for 20-25 minutes at a time. You set your little tomato timer (or watch or whatever) to go off in 25 minutes. Then you write like an absolute beast until you hear the buzzer go off. It’s great because you don’t have to watch the clock.
After the 25 minutes you have 5 minutes to have a break. Get up. Go make a cup of tea or a bowl of cereal. Take your mind away from the sentence you were just writing.
When your 5 minutes are up, set the timer again and you are off, hammering more words onto the page.
I try to do at least 2, hopefully 3, Pomodoros each morning and I usually smash out about 500 words or so in each 25 minute time slot.
Productivity Tip #4 – Don’t edit
Forget about editing your work as you type. Just throw down the words on the page and you can come back and edit them later, say in December when NaNoWriMo is over.
Editing is a logical task and uses the left-hand side of your brain. Writing is a creative task and uses the right-hand side of your brain. If you try to edit as you write you are working your brain twice as hard as it has to keep flicking back and forth over your brain.
Try it out for yourself. Write a sentence. Edit it. And then try and write the next sentence. What happens? You have to re-read the first sentence again.
Like a bookworm with an abnormally small mouth it'll take you twice as long to finish each paragraph.
Forget about editing as you write. You’ll have plenty of time to do that later in the editing phase. It’s not like you are creating a perfect article first time round. And it’s not like anyone else is going to the first draft except you.
Productivity Tip #5 – Get rid of the wiggling line
This single change increased my writing speed immensely. I use Word to write in because I’m a loyal slave to Bill Gates and his software. I’ve tried other writing tools but so far none have clicked. However, there is one small thing that used to slow me down when I used Word.
It is that annoying little red wavy line that appears underneath every spelling mistake.
Rather than helping me create a better creative piece of work it slowed me down by drawing my attention with his crimson wrigglyness. Like a blood-red sign of death it mocked me. ‘Look at me!’ it would scream. ‘You’ve made a mistake, moron. Come and correct me!’
So I turned it off.
By clicking on File -> Options -> Proofing, I found a handful of check boxes which I could deselect to banish that scarlet wobbly line of doom for good. The bastard!
Productivity Tip #6 – Schedule your writing time
This is for those procrastinators out there. If you keep finding that you’ve folded your laundry thirteen times because you’ve been putting off sitting in front of your computer then maybe think about using this tactic.
Think of your writing as a person that you are going on a date with, but a really accepting person who doesn’t mind seeing you in your pyjamas.
Schedule a time and a place that you are going on your date. Put it in your diary, write it on your hand, etch it into the front door, whatever it takes to remember the date.
Then defend that date as you would any important event, like a dentist appointment for example. Tell your friends that, no, you can’t come down to the pub with them tonight because you’ve got a hot date. They don’t need to know that you’ll be sat on your own stuffing your face with Wotsits as you attempt to empty your soul into your book.
(If you want to avoid this scenario completely you could always follow Productivity Tip #1!)
Whatever you do, have fun. Next post on Friday will cover Tips #7 to #10.
Keep adventuring. You’re awesome. Write on!