A Productivity Schedule
Okay, so I've been on a pretty crazy productivity schedule for several months now. The reason is because I'm releasing a new inspirational western romance every 11 weeks. And there was one point in April, where I'd just put up a pre-order and I'd only written ONE CHAPTER of the book.
One chapter.
And the book was coming out in 11 weeks. And I'd only written that chapter so I could put it in the back of the book coming out.
I started panicking a little. I mean, I write fast, but I need time to edit, let the book sit, format, etc.
And I never wanted to be that far behind again. My goal for the summer was to write enough so I could be working 6-7 months ahead of a book's publication date.
I wrote 240,000 words from the last day of school in June to the first day of school in August. And since school started, I've written 2 more books, one at 50K and one at 53K. And I just started another that I'm 20K into.
I have to do this if I want to continue publishing according to my schedule -- and in fact, I've decided to roll out my new series (starting in January) every 6 weeks. SIX WEEKS. But I'm happy to say that the book I'm writing right now doesn't come out until April. So I've achieved that 6 month cushion I wanted for myself.
I'm using Google calendar to keep track of what I should be working on. I give myself 3 weeks to write a 50K book. If I can get 3K/day for the 18 days, I can get really close. I take Sundays off, and I don't work Mondays so I can usually get closer to 5K to make up for any days I don't meet my word count goal.
I draft 2 books back-to-back. Then I take a break for formatting, marketing stuff, relaxation, releases, outlining the next 2 books, etc. That's usually 2 weeks. Then I'm back to drafting.
I feel like I'm doing pretty well at sticking to my schedule, but I also re-evaluate everything every month to prioritize things I may have overlooked, or move a book I'm not feeling like writing. But I have a productivity schedule, and I use it!
Do you do anything like that? How's it going for you?
One chapter.
And the book was coming out in 11 weeks. And I'd only written that chapter so I could put it in the back of the book coming out.
I started panicking a little. I mean, I write fast, but I need time to edit, let the book sit, format, etc.
And I never wanted to be that far behind again. My goal for the summer was to write enough so I could be working 6-7 months ahead of a book's publication date.
I wrote 240,000 words from the last day of school in June to the first day of school in August. And since school started, I've written 2 more books, one at 50K and one at 53K. And I just started another that I'm 20K into.
I have to do this if I want to continue publishing according to my schedule -- and in fact, I've decided to roll out my new series (starting in January) every 6 weeks. SIX WEEKS. But I'm happy to say that the book I'm writing right now doesn't come out until April. So I've achieved that 6 month cushion I wanted for myself.
I'm using Google calendar to keep track of what I should be working on. I give myself 3 weeks to write a 50K book. If I can get 3K/day for the 18 days, I can get really close. I take Sundays off, and I don't work Mondays so I can usually get closer to 5K to make up for any days I don't meet my word count goal.
I draft 2 books back-to-back. Then I take a break for formatting, marketing stuff, relaxation, releases, outlining the next 2 books, etc. That's usually 2 weeks. Then I'm back to drafting.
I feel like I'm doing pretty well at sticking to my schedule, but I also re-evaluate everything every month to prioritize things I may have overlooked, or move a book I'm not feeling like writing. But I have a productivity schedule, and I use it!
Do you do anything like that? How's it going for you?
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