Writing Productivity

So, I'm trying a couple of techniques to improve productivity in 2016. 

I've been using the Pomodoro method successfully for a few months, but now it's time to get a bit stricter with it. These days I write for 25 minutes and then take a 5 minute break, rinse and repeat until starvation of myself or a family member inclines me to stop. Now I'm going to be limiting myself to a set number of pomodoros per task.

In a Creative Penn podcast I listened to recently, I think it was Chandler Bolt who reminded listeners that work takes up whatever space you give it. I'm paraphrasing or bastardising here, but you get the point. If you give yourself all day, it takes all day. Give yourself an hour and it takes an hour.  I'm going to see what timed writing does for my output in terms of quantity and quality.

Secondly, I'm making myself accountable.

​I'm pretty motivated when it comes to writing, but even so it can be challenging to stay on track. I've got no-one to report to but myself and even though I'm a bastard as a boss, as my own employee I know how to get round myself.

So I'm making myself accountable by telling anyone reading this or my twitter feed what I'm planning to do and whether or not I've done it. Doing what you say you're going to do is a great skill to have and right now I could do with some virtual support.

With that in mind, I recently finished writing a new novel and am now in the editing phase. of another project. I'm committing, in writing, in public, to 50 pages a day of re-reading and editing, which means I should have that first step all done by next week and I'll have an idea of how much work is required. I'll check in on twitter everyday and hopefully the ball-crunching fear of public failure will get me out of bed in the morning. If you're in Twitter;land and you catch me sleeping at my desk,  feel free to give me a nudge or slap my elbow away.