Chasing The Clock: Time Management Tips For Writers

The famous saying sums it all“Everything can come back, but not the time which has gone.” Therefore time management is an essential skill which every person should learn both in their professional and personal life. Whenever you ask any successful author/writer about his or her success mantra, then time management surely tops the list of many. Time management for writers is like learning an art, just like writing in itself is an art,  as it involves the interest (passion, creative inclination, hobbies etc) along with logical thinking (how to divide the time between other duties and responsibilities).

As we all have only 24 hours a day but still some of us are far more capable of utilizing the time and that’s why they fare well in many departments not only in professional areas but in personal life too. Time Management for writers is crucial as they can get too deep in thinking especially when an author/writer is penning down fiction books in which they create new space and universe with their imagination. Every writer must be aware of time management because writing a book is not only about writing, it’s much more than that. From marketing to promoting, from events to launches, etc all are now part of a book only.

So, let’s discuss how time management for writers can help them to reach the desired goals without compromising on other activities and duties of day to day life. These are as follows:

1. Keep away the Distracting Elements:

In today’s lifestyle, finding some alone time has become a task. Writing needs concentration and focus so that the chain of thoughts is not broken. But when you have multiple roles in life to play then this is damn difficult to obtain. Imagine in the middle of the thought chain your phone rings or Instagram notification pops up, then your thought process is hindered and it may be further interrupted if you start reading the msg or start talking over the phone.

Thanks to the digital medium these disturbances are present around us in abundance. We are swimming in the ocean of updates, notifications, reminders, etc. most of the time. So, in such a case when you are writing then put your gadgets on mute mode or at bay so that you can write uninterrupted. By doing so you can easily sprung up your productivity in both quality and quantity of the content.

2. Be Practical in Approach and set Goals:

Every writer wants to write down his/her book in one go if he/she can, but in reality that is not possible. We as humans have a complex living pattern. Being social animals our work is only one area of life which we enjoy doing. There are so many other roles and responsibilities which need to be done in life. So, another time management tip for writers is to set goals that/she can fulfill with other aspects of life.

You cannot sit for 8 – 12 hours a day for writing like other jobs, instead set small intervals for writing at fixed hours like early morning or afternoon or evening or nights, depending on one’s schedule. As a writer, we need to learn things around us to gain and understand human behavior, skills, discoveries, inventions, new technologies, etc. So that we can easily incorporate them in writing if required.

3. Practice Daily and Choose your Priorities:

Time management tips for writers are incomplete without this point because if you are too carefree and inconsistent about writing then the writing skills quality suffers a lot. As writing is an expression of thoughts (Fiction/Nonfiction) daily practice depending on individual schedule is a must.

If you want your work to touch millions of lives then it should also show that and this can be achieved if the writing skills are perfect. To achieve precision and accuracy in your writing skills you need to keep updating your skill with writing every day for 15 min / 30 mins once a day or twice a day.

4. First Draft Is Never The Final Book:

This is the reality that every author/writer is aware of that the first written draft of the book is not the final draft. Infact many times authors themselves edit their work repeatedly or get it edited by the copy editor before sending it to the publisher for publishing. So one should write whenever you are having time on hand rather than thinking about it because anyways the draft of the book will undergo editing and the author can easily correct or rearrange things accordingly.

This time management tip for writers may seem insignificant but sometimes a random thought and idea, changes the whole outlook of the story. So, rather than thinking of a fixed storyline and hours to write down its best to pen down the idea then and there. Any emission and addition in the text is a part of the editing process.

Time Management Tips For Writing Book

As in the above paragraphs, we learned about some useful tips about time management tips for writers. But now we will discuss the time management tips for writing a book. Many times you must have heard from different people complaining that the story was good but the writing did not justify the book. Yes, this happens when you are not into regular practice of writing.

Writing doesn’t come in a day or a month, like any other profession it needs your time and dedication for good results. If an author/writer writes on a daily basis as a practice then he is refining his skills in terms of vocabulary, speed, formatting of paragraphs, placements of events in the story in a better way, representation of characters according to the story and many more finer details. All these things in the long run helps the author to put down an effective narration of events which when compiled with well sketched characters creates a book worth reading.

Time management tips for writing a book includes:

• Stick to your style but innovate: It’s difficult for an author to suddenly change his writing style overnight just because the market has the buzz about a certain thing. But at times they do surrender to the commercial need also, instead of doing that, it’s better if the author keeps innovating his own style to bring new elements of surprise. This will keep the target audience always interested in the upcoming work.
• Set your goal: this tip is useful as it helps the author to finish the work in a given timeframe. This especially works when the idea of the book proposal has been approved.
• Keep learning new aspects in writing: as writing is a medium of communication and expression for humans. But with changing times and coming of age technologies one needs to be updated about the new formats which are being introduced in the world of writing.
• Read as much as possible: this is a big myth that writers do not read, in fact every good and extraordinary writer has been avid readers. Reading allows you to gather knowledge and facts about the world around us or sometimes the non-existing space of fiction books, which is required by every author despite the fact that he doesn’t write in the same genre. There are no two ways about the fact that if you read more you can write well. Reading will help in sowing the seed of expressing the thoughts and views which one wants to express as an individual. Reading also helps in developing a particular style of writing for an author. It won’t be wrong to say that a well-read author has a better perspective about many issues especially in non fiction genre as it’s about the facts, data and events happening around us.

Also Read – Mysterious Story Ideas

Time management has always been a talking issue for people around us. The reason behind this is the fact that how much time we have nobody knows. Due to which we all are running to gain as much as possible. As we all have a fixed number of hours a day, we should plan and set our goals so that we can achieve what we desire for. Time management tips for writers and for writing books both include one common thing that is being consistent in writing. Practice writing like one practice in other creative fields like painting, cooking, learning languages, etc.