Planning My Writing Success for This Year

Each of us has the same number of hours in a day. I cannot create time, but I can use the hours that I have been given effectively. I have only 60 minutes every hour, 24 hours every day, seven days per week, and twelve months in a year. If I want to be successful as a writer, I have to plan those hours so that they don't simply slip away.

I keep a year-long calendar and maintain a timeline for getting things done. Some projects can’t be completed until other projects are begun or even started. By managing a year-long calendar, I can map out what projects I need to do so I am not rushed to get a specific project done at the last minute. In addition, I am less likely to miss a step because I already have it on my calendar of events.

To help me determine what goals I need to do in a given month during the year, I have created a project planner to plan which projects I have completed, my current projects, which projects I want to work on next month, and what projects I want to work on for the rest of the year. I have divided my year into four quarters and then into individual months. I try to work on two quarters at the same time. By working on both quarters, I can add projects well in advance of the projects’ due dates.

Each month, at the end of the month, I take time to evaluate how I have been doing throughout the previous month and to decide what I will do to improve my writing success for the next month. By reevaluating my writing success on a monthly basis, I am able to readjust anything that I need to readjust to make the next month even better.

I determine how productive I thought I was the previous month. I evaluate whether I met that month's goals. If I did, great. If I didn't, I would evaluate why I didn't reach the goals I set for myself. I would then determine what I could do to improve my chances of meeting those goals for the next month. In addition, I would add more goals for the following month.

To be successful, rather than setting aside a specific time each day to work on specific projects, I set aside specific days to focus on aspects of my writing business. I have one day a week that I set aside to develop new writing ideas. I have another day per week that I set aside for marketing activities such as writing my newsletter, submitting articles, or other related activities.

This way I am more focused on that specific aspect of my business so that I not jumping around from task to task and never really accomplish anything.

On certain days during the week, I work on developing clients and other income-generating activities. These days, I spend on social media, developing radio and internet interviews as well as reviews. In addition to all these projects, that I have planned every day, I also schedule a time to write new material either fiction or nonfiction. This way I always have something new that I am developing.

I work at home, but my business is a business. I do my best to keep regular working hours and not fritter away my business hours doing household tasks. Of course, if there is an emergency, I will take time off to take care of a sick child for instance, but I fight to protect the time I spend working on my writing business. Like everyone else, I have only 168 hours per week and many of those are taken up with sleep, personal care, housecleaning, and food preparation. I also have to make time for getting out and getting exercise and socializing with family and friends. That is also why I must force myself to limit my time reading emails, and avoid spending time in discussion groups or even running errands.

By spending a little time every month assessing how my time is spent and by taking the time to schedule my projects I am able to focus, and treating my writing as the business that it is, I get a lot more done with the limited amount of time that I have.