Tag Archive - productivity

When You’re Not Motivated to Write

September 21, 2020 in Writing for Life with 7 Comments

I’m reposting this post because I feel it’s so timely. Many are struggling with concentration and motivation, and maybe it’s not the time for you to write or expect so much from yourself. I hope this material encourages you.

For everything, there is a season. So says the wise writer of Ecclesiastes (King Solomon). Some of us were first introduced to this aphorism with the Byrds’ famous song “Turn, Turn, Turn.” I think as we get older, we truly understand the truth about seasons in our lives. They are part of the natural cycle of things, and while we often buck the cycle, we do better if we ride with it.

What am I talking about? The seasons of writing and refraining from writing. Just as there is “a time to plant and a time to reap, a time to laugh and a time to weep,” there is a time to write and a time to not write.

I feel it’s important to consider this, for many reasons. The whole point of Solomon’s words, to me, is acceptance. “This is the way things work,” he seems to be saying. Just as the seasons of the earth come and go in cyclical cadence, everything in our lives works similarly. Why should writing be any different? Continue Reading…

Organizing Your Writing Workplace for Better Productivity

July 2, 2018 in Writing for Life with 12 Comments

Today’s post is by Lesley Vos.

More often than not, we writers don’t craft novels from offices. No teammates, no corporate culture, no “all that stuff” from HR managers on training and engagement for better productivity and work efficiency.

And yet, who says we don’t need this? Procrastination and writer’s blocks run their course, and here we are, crying over a blank page in attempts to start the next chapter.

Productivity is a holy grail for writers. When I started my journey as a freelance writer in the hope of finishing a book in a year, I didn’t realize the size of a problem. I considered it natural to write in a bed with a laptop on my knees and a cup of coffee nearby. And when, in a month, I found I’d written only 5,000 words of my future book, it had become a warning sign saying I did something wrong.

Scientists have long since proven the influence of environment on productivity. Why do you think J. K. Rowling wrote her masterpiece in cafes? The atmosphere of coffee shops makes us writers more creative, inventive, concentrated, and—surprise, surprise!—therefore productive. Continue Reading…

The Life of a Super-Productive Writer

July 17, 2017 in Writing for Life with 1 Comment

In this broad and deep look at the Productivity ABCs—attitude, biology, and choices—we’ve considered many of the roadblocks that keep us from “cranking it out.”

Every writer is different and brings with him, into his writing life, a unique set of roadblocks. Only you can determine what those are, the ways that might work to crash through them or hack around them, and the lifelong adjustments you may need to make to become the super-productive writer you long to be.

Who Is That Writer in the Mirror?

I want to talk about your self-image for a moment. In the introduction, I mentioned that you’re not really an author in the professional or career sense until you publish a book. But even before you get “there,” it’s important to see that goal, that finish line.

If you haven’t finished writing that first book, fix it in your mind that you’re a productive writer. See yourself as a professional, not an amateur. Everything you do should be with that mind-set, and with the ultimate goal before you. Continue Reading…

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