#116 - How to Get Organized and Focused to Get More Writing Done

How do you get organized and focused to get more writing done? Hi, my name is Shelly Hitz and I help writers take a step of faith to finally finish your book so you can impact lives. In each of my Ask Shelley episodes, I promise to share at least one thing that will help you write, self publish and market your books so that the message of your books can reach more readers. So today I'm answering a question that I received that was, how can I get organized and focused today to get more writing done? I think that most writers are thinking about this. I mean, it's just what needs to happen, right? As a writer, you need to write and yet there's so many distractions, There are so many obligations in our lives and commitments and all of the things. And so it is difficult to get organized and focused. But this is also a topic I love to talk about and I could probably talk about it all day, but I just chose three, three things to focus on in this particular video. So the first is an organized writing space. And it is amazing how clutter can cause stress, but then it also can cause you actually to not want to go into that space to write. So whatever your writing space is, look around and say, okay, is it cluttered? Is there stuff piled everywhere? And maybe just set a timer for 25 minutes. Use the pomodoro technique. We use this in our virtual writing retreats every month in Christian Book Academy. It's an experience where we do group writing together. You can work on anything. We use 50 minutes and then a 10 minute break. But the standard pomodoro is to set a timer for 25 minutes, then take a 5 minute break. Just set a timer for 25 minutes and tell your brain, I'm going to get my writing space organized in this 25 minutes. It's amazing what you can get done when you have a deadline. It's like kind of like what you get done before you go on vacation, all the things that you have to do. It's amazing the productivity we can have at that time. And so it's a similar concept. Set your timer for 25 minutes and clear up your writing space so that it's organized so that you know exactly where to get your journals, your pens, your paper, so you know where your reference materials are, you know, whatever it is that you have there. A timer is a great thing to have right there to your computer. Obviously you know if you're typing it out, or your notepad if you're writing. But just organize your writing space, it will make a difference Number two is organize your digital files. So I have a video that I created for Christian Book Academy on how I organize my computer files. And it's been a member favorite. And I think it's just because it's so easy as a creative person, as a writer, just to start all these different folders, just to save things in random places or just dump it all in just one main folder. And I have found that by assigning different things and having a specific system for which I file my digital files, first of all, I can find them easier. But second of all, it just removes the chaos from, you know, when you sit down to write, and then you can't even find your file. So this is something that I learned years ago, and it has served me so well. But on a Mac, your files don't automatically sort in alphabetical order. So I just use a new numerical system. One dash this, two, dash this, three dash this. And I'll have, like one main folder for every book. And then I'll have a folder for my first draft. I'll have a folder for my final draft and, you know, the final book files. I'll have a folder for the book cover. I'll have a folder for information for reviewers and review copies. I'll have a folder for, for other miscellaneous things. But then you have everything nice and organized and you know exactly where to find it. Now, I will say it can take time to organize your files because they might have been in chaos for a while. So don't feel like you have to do everything right now, whatever project you're working on right now. What is the writing project you're working on right now? Set up a folder and set up some different, you know, whatever you want to do for that. Set that up for that project and start using the system now, and then keep using it moving forward. And as you go back to other projects or as you do other things, implement the system. But don't feel like you have to go and just organize your whole computer in order to do this. No, just again, set your timer for 25 minutes. Set up a system. Decide how you want to set it up. If you're a Christian Book Academy member, check out my file or my video on organizing files. And if you're not yet a Christian Book Academy member, come join us@christianbookacademy.com we would love to have you. And so set a timer for 25 minutes. Decide how you will organize this particular project and set it up. Set up your computer when, whether it's Google Drive, whether It's your main computer drive. And then always have backups. I heard somebody say at a writing conference, even Jesus saves, right? As kind of a joke. But, I mean, I've been doing this long enough, and we've had members lose complete book files, like manuscripts and all of the things. Like, you know, I really recommend a cloud backup of some sort of. If you have a hard drive backup, there's so many different ways you can do it, but make sure you also have backups. So the first thing is to organize your writing space. Have a decluttered space. It'll just make you feel like you actually want to go into that space. Number two, organize your digital files. Don't feel like you have to go back and do everything. Just start with this current project. So, you know, right when you get it on your computer, which folder to click on, where to go, which document to open, it's just going to make everything feel so much easier and more focused. And then the third thing is an organized calendar. And so I want you to look at your calendar right now and look at all of the things that you have on your calendar for this week. What kind of obligations do you have? You know, obviously, you know, if you're working, there's going to be stuff for work. If you have children or grandchildren that you're having to take to school or that you have to take to events, you may have church things that you're committed to, but look at all of the things that you have going on. And what I like to do is I like to have themed days or try to organize similar tasks in similar chunks of time. So it's easy to just let life, you know, just tyranny of the urgent and let life take over. And then you're not in control of your calendar. Your calendar is in control of you. So instead of doing that, like, I set aside Fridays as like my appointment days. So that's the days that I go to the dentist, go to the chiropractor, I get my hair cut, you know, and all of those things are on Fridays. If I would let those slip through, and I have in the past, on all the other different days, it would take out chunks of time that I could then spend working and writing and all of that. So consider that. Also consider what is for this season right now on your calendar. You may have been a volunteer in a certain capacity for the last 10 years, maybe that particular volunteer opportunity. Maybe it's not for now, right now, or maybe you're going to step down from that for right now, so you can open up some space to write your book, but then you'll come back to it later. You can always come back to it. But there might be just something that time for that to come to an end, maybe that opens up two to three hours, one evening, that then you can use that for writing. So I always say we need to learn to say the two letter word no more often. Setting boundaries is so important in order to get writing done. And so when you schedule your writing on your calendar, schedule it like a doctor's appointment. And I want you to think like, what would it take for you to cancel a doctor's appointment?

What would it take? Like, you would have to be really, really sick. There would have to be an extreme family emergency. So when you schedule your writing, think of it in that way. And if somebody asks you to do something or you know something comes up, say, I would love to, but I already have another commitment. You don't have to say what that is, but your commitment is to God, it's to your future readers, it's to your manuscript. And you know, if you keep just allowing anything and everything to take up that writing time, it's just never going to happen. So you have to set these boundaries and yet be flexible. Obviously, if there's something that comes up that's a true family emergency or that you need to be there for a friend, of course that comes first. But again, think of the whole thing of when would you cancel a doctor's appointment? And use that as kind of a guiding compass. And make sure that you're guarding your writing time on your calendar. Block it out, mark it off, make sure all your family knows this is a time that you're not going to be doing anything else. And you can also find time on your calendar. If you're working full time, you can write over your lunch hour. We've had Christian Book Academy members write multiple books over their lunch hours. You could get up 15 minutes earlier and write 15 minutes at the beginning of each day. So there's ways to fit book writing into your life. And I like to say, in Christian Book Academy, we help you fit book writing into the nooks and crannies of your life. And so we'd love to have you join us. You can join us@christianbookacademy.com Every month we have a 15 minute writing challenge, which is a member favorite, and a two day virtual writing retreat, which is a group writing session. And our members love these times. They get so productive. They're so focused and it's because of the accountability, but also the community and the deadlines. Right? And so it's just a great way to stay focused and get more writing done. So if that sounds interesting to you, come join us@christianbookacademy.com we would love to help you fit the book writing into the nooks and crannies of your life. We also have Progress Pods for Accountability where you meet with a group of writers every week and you just set your next tiny step. We've hired an accountability expert and use his system, the next tiny step system and it is powerful. So we are cheering you on again. As a recap, I encourage you to organize your writing space space, number two, organize your digital files and number three, organize your calendar. Because we want you to get organized so that you can be focused and get more writing done so you can finally finish your book and impact lives with the message God has given you. We don't want you to take your book to the grave, but we're here to help you give birth to your dreams and birth and life to your book. So we are here for you and encourage you to join us@christianbookacademy.com.