Increasing my productivity by cutting my time in half?

I only have an hour to write this. Why?

I have been trying something new; a technique taught by Rian Doris that I stumbled on that can teach your brain to work up to five times as productively in less time than you are now. So I have cut my work days in half and when whatever box I assigned the sections ends, I stop for the day.

Less time = More productivity

I have been practicing doing this for a week now and, though I am still fine-tuning the specifics, it does seem to be helping. When you work in a limited time frame, you don’t stop to overthink every choice. If someone calls or you suddenly remember another task, you just push it out of your mind. You can return the call or do that task at the end of the hour. I didn’t realize how much I analyze every choice for publishing until I started to work this way.

One Hour Sessions For…

I decided to create all my books as large print editions as well as re-releasing the originals and have been using my “Ever Ink Press” time for that. Swing is now uploaded to Amazon, awaiting final approval, for the regular edition and the Large Print will follow soon . . . I expect by the end of this week.

For my second block of time, I am making great strides toward releasing a website that will help local people find local businesses and individuals who are selling items and services they need. I don’t have all the finances together for all the start up costs yet, but things are starting to come nicely together.

Less time = More Community

One of the things I like best about this work system is that I have been finishing my work between 6 AM and Noon-2 PM. This actually gives me some time to get out of the house and be involved in my community. I have found a new church home and begun to help out there. I have volunteered to help the museum collect oral histories and produce them in a way that can be shared and preserved for generations. I needed this. When you work from home, it’s too easy to go for days without seeing anyone. I was getting feeling sad and lonely working from 9-5 and when almost everything was closed for the day once I was finished.

Less time = More Efficiency

My mind is constantly looking for ways to do things more quickly. Is there a keyboard shortcut I can use instead of clicking my mouse back and forth? Do I really need to do this step or can I skip it and focus only on what is essential? And because I am actually letting my mind rest in the evenings, it has time to process the day and solve the problems I am looking to overcome. Often by the next day, I’ll have the answer to something that stumped me or realize that something could have been doing more quickly if I had approached it in a different order.

In fact, my first class for the Writing’s Class goes into details about this process. I will be teaching it on Friday and sharing it with you in the blog next week, so keep your eyes out if you want to know the science and specifics on how it works. Or you can watch this video which is what I based it on.

Less Time vs Nanowrimo

I haven’t perfected the system yet. Usually in November, I will draft or rewrite an entire manuscript as part of National Novel Writing Month. This November I chose Carter’s story (for the third time) to focus on. So even though I’m not using the Nanowrimo site, and I’m combining revising existing chapters with writing new parts, I am trying to get Carter’s manuscript ready to publish. However, as part of my teaching myself to be more efficient, I am working in 15-minute sessions, adding one session per week until I am able to work for an hour, but in an even more productive way than usual.

At least, that was the plan.

Even this morning, I got caught on my first day working on Carter’s story, and instead of the allowed fifteen minutes I had planned for this week, I went for two hours. Ahem. I did however have time to pray about and find the story-plot solution that I have been stumped on since I began the book in 2019. This will be its third rewrite.

Before . . . Take Three

I drafted Carter’s story, the third book in the Between series, before he meets Choe in 2019. I rewrote it, focusing on the time after he meets Chloe in 2020, while I was still recovering from long-term Covid. That was a fun read . . . I actually did manage a whole story, notes about missing scenes, and an ending . . . that I had only a few vague recollections of actually writing.

Honestly, I remember the first night of Nanowrimo 2020, sitting on the couch, trying to decide if I was going to revise the original manuscript or retype the entire thing. I do not remember anything about writing the rest of that book or most of the scenes, except those from my 2019 version. Covid does weird things to your brain. It is also the worst manuscript I have ever written as far as having a cohesive storyline, veering into a story plot, then coming to a sudden halt, back up and go a different way. But the premise was still fascinating. I was shocked to see I was already trying to write the same elements I am bringing to the table in this version…ones I didn’t even realize I had already worked in.

So How Will This Work?

My task now is to combine everything salvageable from both manuscripts to cover the time from when Carter wakes in Between, through the events in both of Chloe’s book, and into the future, to wrap up the story without creating a gigantic book. Intimidating? A little. Especially when I’m limited in how much time I can work on it.

But it will be a great test to see if this limiting work time actually does make one more productive. So far, I would say yes. But I’m not going to stop and analyze, because I have 25 minutes to revise and post this. Which is actually more time than I expected to find. Perhaps it’s working after all . . .