With the busyness of today’s world and all the hats a writer must wear, it’s easy to feel like your productivity isn’t what you want it to be.
Productivity can apply to every area of our lives. So don’t look at your entire day/week and make the sweeping conclusion that you’re not being productive. You may be batting it out of the park on your writing, but not making it to first base with your marketing.
Hundreds of apps and programs exist to help in this realm. But first, you need to measure where you are to determine if improvement truly is needed and where. If I hadn’t challenged myself with Chris Fox’s 5000 Words Per Hour, I wouldn’t have discovered how I was hurting my writing productivity.
Track how you spend your time for at least 3 days. A week is best. Don’t make this hard. Just jot it down on a piece of scratch paper. Keep it simple. For example, 9 to 11 a.m. surfing social media. Examine your list and look for any patterns.
Once you’ve done this, you can determine your productivity and spot activities that are either helping or hindering you. Then you can look for specific methods, apps, or programs that can help.
Below are things I use and recommend, but also links to more info on various apps.
Writing Tools
Hands down, I love Scrivener for Windows writing software (or Scrivener 3 for macOS ) for all my writing needs. I can keep everything I need, including media and research, in one place.
Maybe you’re a two-finger typist and dictating your book works better. Here is an article on the best dictation apps.
If you’re an Office 365 subscriber, you can dictate straight into MS Word.
The snowflake method is a system for plotting your book. I use this and find it extremely useful. I don’t sit for an hour wondering what happens next in my story. Learn the 10 steps of the snowflake method at Advanced Fiction Writing. Ingermanson also has a snowflake software program, though I’ve never used that.
I encourage you to do a baseline measure of your writing. Take your current work, choose a scene that needs written, set a timer for 5 minutes, and then write (or dictate) for 5 minutes, no stopping, no correcting typos, no fretting over just the right word.
Then use this formula from Fox’s book to determine your words-per-hour rate: words typed, times (60/5). Example: 103 words x (60/5) = 1236 words per hour. Is your rate something you want to improve on? (Fox offers 5000 Words Per Hour for free on his website.)
Organizational Apps
Ideas strike anywhere at any time. To capture them when I’m away from my computer, I use Evernote.
Here is an article from Zapier on “The 10 Best Note Taking Apps in 2018.”
For those whose inspiration strikes while in the shower/bathtub, there are whiteboards for the shower. Pinterest even has a post for DIY shower whiteboards.
Social media can be a huge productivity zapper. Your tracking sheet probably helped you see just how much time you’re spending there. Here’s a list of 10 best apps that help track usage and limit time on social media.
Batching
A productivity method I’m endeavoring to use is called batching. It’s simply doing similar tasks in one block of time to maximize concentration and cut down on distraction.
Doing a month or week’s worth of social media memes in two hours is an example. Here is an article from Michael Hyatt that gives more details on batching and outlines a batching method called the Pomodoro Technique.
Do you have an app or method you especially like? List it in the comments along with what you use it for and why you like it.
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