Productivity Tips For Writers: 15 tasks you can do in 10 minutes or less
“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” ~ William Penn
Productivity for writers is, at it’s simplest, about not wasting whatever time you have available for your writing. Generally speaking, time is wasted in minutes, not hours. How often do you find yourself at home, in the car or out in your community waiting for something to happen in ten minutes? How often do you wish you could spend that time writing, or at least doing something productive that would further your writing career?
In ten minutes you’ll be leaving for the school run, going to your day job, leaving your day job, returning that phone call, going into the store that’s not yet open, picking up the child from sports practice, getting called into the doctor’s office, going to meet a friend, finally getting your teenage daughter out of the bathroom so you can get in, rounding up your kids from the top of the jungle gym or using your lap top again because it finally finished downloading an update you’re not sure you needed in the first place.
You do nothing (except fret and get frustrated) because you think you don’t have time to ‘start’ anything. Actually you have time to start and finish all kinds of things. Here are a few of them.
Productive writing related tasks you can do when you only have ten minutes:
Write
You can write 200 words in ten minutes. It’s not a lot but it’s better than 0 words. If it’s a 200 word outline of an article, blog post or the next chapter of your book, you’ve made good use of your ten minutes. You don’t need me to remind you to always carry a notebook, do you?
Read
A chapter. A few pages. An article. A blog post. A newsletter. It’s easier to read something useful than write something useful if you only have ten minutes. You don’t need me to remind you to always carry reading material do you?
Research
It’s easy to assume you need to set aside big chunks of time to research an article or book. But in ten minutes you can do some Googling, find some useful websites and bookmark them or save them to your favorites. Make sure you put them in a folder marked ‘research’ or named after the project you’re researching. If you have a hard copy of some research notes for a project you’re working on, take them everywhere with you and go over a page or two whenever you can.
Network
I actually think too much social media and online networking is a time suck and a productivity disaster, but if you only have ten minutes you can’t waste more than ten minutes, can you? Enough time to tweet/stumble/Digg a useful blog post or two (yours or someone else’s). Or to find some new people to follow. Or to update your status with something cool and witty that will encourage others to check out your profile/blog/website. The possibilities are endless.
Rationalize your social media or subscriptions
Maybe it’s time to unfollow some social media people whose tweets/links/updates don’t really interest you. Or to unsubscribe from some newsletters/ezines that aren’t providing good value. If, like me, you started out on Twitter following lots of random people hoping they’d follow you back, use Friend or Follow to unfollow those who didn’t. Then start fresh. Only follow people you’re genuinely interested in from now on. Trust me, this will save many minutes (and hours) in future as you won’t be overwhelmed with a load of tweets on topics that you couldn’t care less about.
Download an ebook
There are some great free ones available. But even going through the checkout won’t take more than ten minutes, so consider investing in yourself. See the resources page for ideas.
Sign up for a course
Savvy Authors has some great ones at the moment. It won’t take you more than ten minutes to take a look at them. Then mull it over a bit, and if you decide you’re up for it, use your next spare ten minutes to sign up.
Read and comment
Check out your favorite blog. Read the newest post, or one from the archives. Leave a comment. Tweet the post. You’ll get some new knowledge and involvement in the online writing community, in less than ten minutes.
Watch a podcast
Save links to “ten minutes or less” podcasts when you come across them and dip into them next time you have a ten minute time chunk.
Read a newsletter
I subscribe to lots, but they’re a real productivity hole if you read them as they come in, making “just checking my emails” last an hour or more. Now I file them straight into a folder and return to it in my ten minute time chunks.
Join an online writing community (but not too many)
I’m currently a member of SheWrites, BlogHer and Savvy Authors. They’re all useful resources in their own way, but I’m sticking with that for now. Better to be in a few associations you’re active in than lots that you never have time to check in to.
Check out a forum
Another potential time waster, but you only have ten minutes so how can you waste more? Find a writing forum. If you’re not already active on one, there are some at the above mentioned sites. Leave (or answer) a question. You’ll get answers to any questions you ask and maybe some new visitors to your blog or site if you answer one intelligently.
Exercise
Writers’ butt is an occupational hazard. You’d be amazed how much difference a regular ten minute walk or stretch can make.
Find some guidelines
Look up some writers’ guidelines for websites or magazines you’d like to write for. (Use a markets database to find them quickly.) If you find a market you think you could write for save/bookmark it to a folder marked “writing markets”. Go back to it in your next ten minute time chunk and outline a possible submission.
Brainstorm
Make a list of possible titles for articles, short stories, blog posts or books.
What do you do when you only have ten minutes to spare? Let us know in the comments. (Writing related answers only please. We love to share – but not too much!)
Twitter: deri_ross
says:
Awesome ideas! I especially like the idea of unfollowing Twitter people that aren’t following me back. I never thought of that. I’m new to Twitter so I did the mass follow thing too and now I wade through tons of questionable posts every day. I worried it was rude to unfollow them, but I think I shall go do that right now!
Twitter: writeandchange
says:
Hi Deri. Definitely not rude and a big time saver. It takes a while to learn how to use Twitter (and other social media sites) in a way that is productive to you. The mass follow thing definitely isn’t productive if you’re on there to connect with other people in the writing & publishing industries and learn interesting new things (which was my intention). If that’s your intention too, go ahead and unfollow the people who aren’t providing any value (they probably won’t even notice!).
Time management is something i need to work upon.
I had a friend (a girl precisely) that was doing so much stuff that i was always blown away by her schedule!
Piano, swimming pool, school and other God knows how many things….
I asked her “how do you do it?” . It easy she replied!
“I have my schedule, and i got used to it. Now it just normal for me.”
I believe that consistency is very important in achieving our goals.
Luke´s last post ..How to choose a degree
Twitter: writeandchange
says:
Hi Luke. So true. It’s definitely a case of the more you do, the more you can do, or as your friend put it “you get used to it”. It really is that simple
Thanks Karen this is a great list. I am always looking for bite sized ways to make use of my time and to dip into my interests since those big blocks of time are hard to come by.
One thing I do now when I only have ten minutes is to refer to a running list I keep titled “Things I would like to do for my Blog” as anyone who blogs knows there are always a million things you could do so it’s helpful to have a quick reference when spare time pops up.
Twitter: writeandchange
says:
Hi Kathryn. That’s a great idea. This blog is such a work in progress. I have lots of small tweaks I need to do. I’ll sart my running list in my next 10 minute time chunk!
Karen Banes´s last post ..Twenty Twitter Tips For Writers