Thursday 5 July 2012

Scary Productivity Surge

Wow. Oh wow. These last two weeks, I've been so productive that I've scared myself.

I'm going to share the secret of my productivity with you all. Have a look at the bottom right hand side of this blog. See the tracking hours box. That's my secret. Actually writing down the time I spend writing (writing and direct research for a story i.e. Wikipedia articles). Anything else like big research (reading non-fiction books), or subbing, or reading craft books, or reading anthologies, or blogging, or thinking time, doesn't get counted.

This technique really works for me. Don't ask me why. You'll have a different amount of time than me for writing, but I'd definitely recommend tracking (either hours or word count) and writing it down somewhere.

Do any of you do this? It's super-great, isn't it? Although I feel a bit worn out. Time for a walk methinks.

Edited to add. I think the most valuable thing about this is that I'm tracking actual writing time. So today for instance, I've worked for about five hours and would usually have knocked off. But I've only been writing for three hours, the rest of the time I made a couple of submissions, read an online story, a few blogs etc. All valuable stuff, but not writing.

28 comments:

  1. Great way to keep a writer honest!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. of course, I could be lying through my teeth, just to impress you guys!

      Delete
  2. I did this for awhile then stopped because I wanted to stop focusing on quantity and focus on quality. I do think you reach a point where quality writing happens more consistently and then it makes sense to swing back to quantity. Sounds like that's where you're at. Though don't get burned out!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I should blog about that, too, Blue. I find it really valuable to shake up the process.

      I am slightly concerned about burn-out, I'm feeling burn-out already. But it maybe me just readjusting to this new process.

      Delete
  3. That's a really great idea. I think maybe I'll have to track hours rather than words. I might feel better about my productivity that way.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Let me know how it goes, if you try it, Christine.

      Delete
  4. Hooray for your productivity!

    I usually track my word counts. I agree, it does help.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow, love that! Keeping yourself accountable in public is brave and awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Awesome -- now go get some fresh air! I track word counts, and during my latest WiP, I managed 1k/hour/day -- which was manageable after teaching my classes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can do 1K an hour, but it's very very poor. It takes me about 4-5 hours to produce submitable fiction. Man, I'm sooo slow. That's why I have to work so hard.

      Delete
    2. I didn't say it was any good! =] And it was only an hour after work before I crashed for the night. That was my allotted time, so I had to make the most of it.

      Delete
  7. It's a bloody fantastic idea - and I'm in awe of how much writing you've got done. I tend to do it by word count, but that rather falls down when I'm editing. I think I may adopt your approach ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey, let me know if it works for you, Simon.

      Delete
  8. It's a good idea to keep productive. Do you include time spent daydreaming?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello L, funny you should mention that, because I have been practising a new technique for thinking time. I might blog about it later. Essentially I'm doing my thinking time, in my dead time, when I'm doing a repetitive task-- tidying the kids bedrooms, or ironing. But the hours I'm monitoring don't include thinking time--only writing.

      Delete
  9. I should try this if only to keep myself accountable. I've always tracked word counts but word counts don't show that I spend six hours at my desk and only two hours writing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's worth doing it for a day or two, at least, to find out how much time you're spending writing, Cate. I always said I did about 5 hours writing a day (on weekdays). Boy was I over-estimating.

      Delete
  10. Great idea. I did something similar when I really had to buckle down and write my thesis. I planned out my hours, wrote out a little schedule, and gave myself 15 minutes of "doing other stuff" time per hour (it still counted as an hour). I managed to average 4 or 5 hours a day that way. Sometimes they were weird hours (midnight to 4am!), but they were still hours.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I like that 15 minute break per hour idea, Elizabeth. I'm surprised how tough this regime is. This is my third week and I'm really feeling it. Which surprises me. Five hours (my aim) doesn't feel excessive to me, as I have 9-3pm free while the kiddies are at school.

    I'm hoping that I just need to build the habit, and that it'll get easier, because I'm loving the results.

    ReplyDelete
  12. That is an excellent idea, Deborah! Soon as I make a plan to accomplish my goals for July, I might just add a widget for counting my hours. Thanks for the tip:)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh and I'm back to say Im posting June goal results tomorrow (Thursday), you know, since you called me out on it:)

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'm late joining in on this one, but currently I do word count, which could vary, since some days it might take me one hour to get my numbers, and then three the next. I might switch it up though, keeping track of time spent writing vs. word count, to see if there is any difference. It could be that one works better, for me.
    Thanks Deb!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeh, I know what you mean. Constant change is the key. It keeps you on your toes.

      Delete
  15. I don't track stuff like that. But it sounds like a system that works for you and that's all that matters.

    ReplyDelete