Writing and improving productivity
I keep reading about productivity techniques. Which is ironic, as all that reading has made me less productive. I am specifically referring to writing productivity which is the only kind of productivity I give a shit about as I don’t really do anything else.
Most writing productivity techniques seem to revolve around having a regular schedule. Hemingway wrote a 1000 words a day, Stephen King annoyingly does 2000 words a day. Other writers, like JG Ballard, wrote for 3 hours a day. I can’t do that. I swing from being pleased one day when I write over 3000 words, to disappointment the next when I write bugger all. I should stress that I am talking personal targets here – which for me, means fiction. I write for a company and have to be in the office two days a week. I also do freelance work for magazines and websites, etc. None of that is counted in my productivity because getting beer money is incentive enough. If you work a regular job and want to write anything in your free time, you will probably get where I am coming from with this.
The problem stems from not having a regular week. So instead of my old daily target, I have been setting a weekly one with a sweetener at the weekend. I now have all week to hit 5000 words. If I do that, I can play games at the weekend or watch Netflix or stay in bed reading or go to the pub or whatever. I know this seems pretty bloody obvious but somehow this minor switch has massively upped my productivity. Before, I would fall below my target regularly due to other commitments that suddenly popped up and then regularly missing targets becomes a habit. Now there is no excuse. If I want to play God of War 4 on Sunday, I need to hit 5000 words. (This amount may go up if I continue to succeed with this.)
If this is painfully obvious, then I apologise. It had just never really occurred to me before, possibly as everyone I know seems to lead impressively regulated weeks. If you have been struggling, give it a go. I adore writing fiction but sometimes I need a shove.
For the rest of the planet – next entry will be more interesting!
