Snatch Writing Time

“What are you writing these days?,” one of my friends asked. I had to do some personal accounting for a second. I’m not currently facing a book deadline and I’m not cranking out a certain amount of words each day.

Most of my personal writing is emails to authors and my colleagues at Morgan James. This type of communication does not show up in print.

If you aren’t writing much but would like to do so, are you committing time to regular writing? If not, then I suggest you take a step back and see how you are spending your time.

Maybe you are doing more reading or maybe you are spending more time playing games or watching television or spending time on social media such as twitter or facebook. 

Each of these ways of spending time are OK but none of them include regular writing and do not move ahead your dreams and desires as a writer.

I’m writing these words on a two hour flight. As I look around at others. Some people are asleep. Others are making small talk with each other. Still other people are reading while some are playing games on their computer like solitaire.

As writers we can choose a different path and way to use our time. Instead of those other activities, I’m using my AlphaSmart and pounding out a few more words. I’m writing.

Prolific novelist James Scott Bell teaches writers to snatch time. Check out this video where he talks about it:

If you aren’t accomplishing your novel or your magazine writing or your blog, then I encourage you to take an accounting of how you are spending your time. If your writing is a priority, it will get done.

I’m choosing to write some words and get them out to you. What about you?

Writing Your First Draft

Do you find consistent time to write? In this busy world, it is a challenge for all of us.

Yes, I struggle with this issue since I have a day job as an acquisitions editor. It means the bulk of my day is spent on the phone with authors and literary agents or reading manuscripts or processing their material and championing their cause to our publication board or answering author’s questions about contracts. The business of publishing is not easy and involves lots of communication via email and the phone.

Often this situation leaves limited time for writing. I want to list several ways to make this time:

1. Make writing a priority. Is it more important than watching the latest news program or reality show? You need to understand you are making a choice to watch these programs.

Or are you sleeping instead of writing? Maybe you need to write first in your day instead of reading through Facebook or your email. In taking this stance, you are making another choice and giving your writing priority.

As I write these words, I’m on an airplane headed to Chicago. The people around me are sleeping or reading or talking with each other. I’m not doing any of that but instead pounding the keyboard of my AlphaSmart.

While I do have a laptop in my bag, my AlphaSmart is a perfect tool for writing on the airplane. It has a full size keyboard and only four lines on a little screen. It runs on three AA batteries and is always ready to go when you turn it on and start typing.

This little gizmo holds 100 pages of text and some of my novelist friends write their entire manuscripts on this little device. Years ago I bought a used AlphaSmart on Ebay for $30 and it continues to be one of my best online purchases because I use it all the time. These little machines are tough and never wear out.

While the AlphaSmart isn’t perfect, it is ideal for writing first drafts. You can use it on the fly in any place or situation.

As a journalist, I learned to compose at the keyboard when I was in high school. This valuable skill has allowed me to write almost any place I have a keyboard.

2. Have a plan for your writing. When you write, are you drafting a scene for a book or the opening of a magazine article or a blog post for your readers? If you have a plan, you will hit the ground running instead of procrastinating wondering what words you will put down.

3. Continually be looking to build relationships with editors and other writers. In my years in publishing, I’ve repeatedly seen the importance of relationships. You meet an editor or another writer and maintain your relationship through email or the phone or even mailing a note from time to time. This sort of effort pays off.

Writers need others in the publishing world. We can’t get very far in this business without editors, agents and other publishing professionals and most importantly readers of our material. Give priority to building and maintaining these relationships. It will pay off for you—as I’ve seen it pay over the years.

This week I noticed one of my local friends celebrated a milestone birthday. I spotted the news on Facebook and sent her a little email greeting. Then later in the day I called her to wish her Happy Birthday. I had no other agenda than to make this quick call. I learned she had fudged on her age on Facebook so it wasn’t the milestone that it proclaimed. She appreciated my short call and I did something significant to continue my relationship. What steps are you taking in this area to build and maintain your connections? They are important to your writing life.

Use Your Limited Supply with Wisdom

While you may not think about it, we have a commodity with limitations: time. Each of us have a finite amount of it yet some people appear to be more productive than others.

I love the title of Bob Bly's book, Make Every Second Count. I've known some productive writers and they tend to be experts at time management.

I've always been an observer of productive writers. Many years ago I interviewed one of these writers. During our session, I had to pause my recorder for a few minutes, excuse myself and take a quick bathroom break. When I returned to the room, this author was not waiting patiently for my return. Instead, he had grabbed those few moments to work on one of his on-going projects and make productive use of the minutes. To some people those actions might have appeared impatient but I could see the productivity.

Back to Make Every Second Count, in the opening pages, Bob Bly says,"How you use your time is largely up to you. Make Every Second Count shows you how to transform time from an enemy into an ally--and become the master of your time, rather than its slave. The best time to start? Right now." (Page 10-11)

Each chapter is packed with specific advice whether you need help with speeding up your work habits, setting goals, saving time and money when you travel, increasing your personal efficiency, using technology to save time, effective networking online, going mobile, delegating outsourcing, getting organized or managing information overload, this book contains something for everyone.

I learned a great deal from it and highly recommend this book as a valuable resource for everyone.

As with any book, the key action step is to apply the instruction into your every day life. Just look at this series of tips in Chapter 13 on Managing Information Overload (and who isn't in this category?):

1. Be selective.

2. Subscribe to a customized/ news/ data service.

3. Get your voice mail under control.

4. Reduce your email correspondence.

5. Protect yourself. Refuse to accept information input you deem unimportant or irrelevant.

6. To overcome this threat to your personal productivity, be highly selective in what you scan, browse, acquire and otherwise take in.

7. Specify your content level. Frequently people communicating with you give you much more information than you need to make a decision.

8. Cleanse and purge frequently.

9. Combine information input with another activity.

10. Know when you have enough information. (pages 202–205)

Not all of these points standalone but give you an idea of the valuable information in this book.

Bob Bly is one of the most prolific writers that I know. Whether you are unpublished or much published, you can gain from reading Make Every Second Count.