Getting your writing groove going!

And an #MHAWS writing retreat!!

Hello darlings!

Is everyone kicking ass this week? Kick ass twice as hard for me, okay bebes?

First, the big news! I’m working with Kelly Clancy of Epilogue Editing to host a writing retreat in May in Atlantic City. Kelly will hold one-on-one editing sessions with all attendees and I’ll facilitate goal setting and writing workshops in the mornings and evening. In between, everyone will GET SHIT DONE (!) through focused time for writing.

When: May 22-26, 2023

Where: The retreat is being held in a gorgeous historical home that’s right on the beach.

I need more info! Okay, all the details are here.

Getting your writing groove on:

One question that repeatedly came out of this survey (still open! Two questions long!) is that people would like to more about how I actually get shit done and, in particular, why I structure my days in the ways that I do. Specifically, people asked why I switch projects frequently, how I decide how long to work on a project, and for lots more on time management. So here we go!

I occasionally share a screenshot of my calendar. Remember that I use time blocking, I am fiercely defensive about keeping my work time between 7 and 5 M-F, and I don’t work on the weekend. So what does that look like?

Here’s my schedule this week:

Generally: yellow: class prep, crossed out – meetings on zoom and / or names of students that I met with (aka Thursday when I met with 14 students individually), green: taking care of my body (movement or food), blue: writing, purple: meetings, gray: writing retreats, bright blue: fun

How did I get to the point where I make a spaghetti monster schedule like this? I spend a lot of time thinking about what works for me and testing different patterns out. I know that I work best in the morning (I’m a lark, not an owl; you can take a test here!). I’m a marathoner, not a sprinter  (although I used to be a hellava procrastinator). My “groove” is that I generally write the most when I write in 1-2 hour blocks and do not work on a single project for a really extended period of time. There are exceptions to this! I get a so fucking much done when I go to writing retreats (including by myself or with coauthors or with friends! Like in May!)

Maybe your ideal writing scenario is one where you have long blocks of uninterrupted time! Or maybe you want and need other people to be in the room with you, working alongside you. Or maybe you need NO ONE TO SPEAK TO YOU FOR FOUR HOURS. But the odds that you are going to get these “needs” met each day that you should be writing are incredibly slim.

So what do you do if you can’t have the ideal-most-perfect-bestestest-environment for writing? Satisfice!

In your writing process, the perfect is the enemy of the good.

This is not just true about finishing projects and perfectionism and the actual words you write, but also about the process of writing. You are not ever going to get your shit done if you wait for the perfect time, place, and mood to make it happen. Or maybe that will happen! Once a fucking year. So then are you going to write for a total of 8 hours in a whole year while you wait for that miracle? Or are you going to put your big girl/guy/non-binary pal underwear on and figure out some ways to work in less than ideal settings?

Getting your groove on (when you don’t feel groovy):

Here are some ways to get shit done even if the stars have not perfectly aligned.

Try shorter blocks of time, even if it doesn’t feel right:

There’s a reason that the pomodoro timer is so useful – most of us can sneak in 25 minutes into out schedule most days.

Start with those 25 minutes. See what you can get done. Can you add more tomorrow? Next week? Can you expand that 25 minutes to 50 minutes or 100 minutes?

Cut off the fucking distractions:

When you turn to your research and writing, turn off the world. Turn off push notifications to your phone and on your work computer for social media, email, and anything else that distracts you. If that’s not possible, put on do not disturb for 25 minutes. If needed, install an app like Blocksite, Freedom, Chrome Nanny, or Get Focused to limit your time on distracting websites. The Forest app is fun because you grow trees while you work. 

Understand your own problems and progress:

Install Rescuetime or a similar app on your computer (I do both the app & chrome add on) to track your time. You will need to train it to recognize your productive and distracting activities! Then LOOK AT IT at the end of the day. Were you actually writing when you thought you were writing or were you looking at how much it costs to move to Croatia?

Once you know more about yourself, schedule writing for your best times of day. Put your bullshit tasks when you are already distracted. Schedule meetings for your lowest energy times. If that’s not possible, schedule writing for a good part of the day (aka, don’t put writing at the time you are at your worst).

Is my system perfect? Absolutely fucking not. Is it better than it was a year ago? Probably? Is it better than me checking my email every second of the day and then trying to write at 9pm, tired an anxious? YES absolutely (and this was what I was doing in 2014).

Find your groove. Satisfice your groove. Get your shit done.

XOXOX

Mirya

Want to compensate Mirya for her MHAWS labor? Buy her a coffee here. Want to rock some MHAWS merch? Find it here!