Writing Productivity – Start before you feel ready. Stop before you feel done.

I suspect I am like many of you in the fact that I read a lot. I like to read for both personal enjoyment as well as personal growth and development. I recently came across a work-focused article that has something for the writer inside as well.

Over 30 years ago, the psychologist Robert Boice’s wrote about productivity advice. His advice is so valuable his books can sell for more than $100. Boice’s research was based on academic writing when the “publish or perish” mindset was driving academic publishing. These writers were highly motivated to finish their work and get the next paper published to make tenure or reap other recognition and accolades. This led to heavy stress and pressure on the righters.

Instead of long bouts of stressed, unfocused busyness, Boice recommended shorter, fixed windows of creative effort. The most productive professors wrote daily for no more than three hours and religiously stopped at the end of their scheduled session, even if they were on a roll. Creating a writing routine with the flexibility needed to allow for creativity is the heart of his approach.

A few of the key recommendations paraphrased by Rachel Fulton Brown from Robert Boice, How Writers Journey to Comfort and Fluency: A Psychological Adventure (Westport: Praeger, 1994) are:

Pace yourself.  Work in brief, regular sessions, 10-50 minutes in length, no more than 3-4 hours a day, 5 days a week. Use a timer to help yourself keep the sessions brief, and take breaks between each. This approach mirrors my own recommendations on writing exercises and making a plan.Stop when you get to the end of your time limit, preferably in the middle of something (a sentence, paragraph, argument). This mirror’s Hemmingway’s method of how to take the struggle out of getting started on difficult tasks, from nearly 90 years ago.Spend as much time pre-writing (noticing, collecting materials, taking notes, planning, outlining, making drafts) and rewriting as you do writing.Spend as much time socializing around writing (talking with other writers about what you are writing) as you do writing (and spend only moderate amounts of time at either).If you find yourself worried about not being busy/smart/productive enough, stop and do something else (like sleep) until you feel rested again.

I think these tips and recommendations are key for us all, especially as NaNoWriMo is just around the corner. Yes, I see the irony of plugging a steady, measured writing approach while mentioning a challenge geared toward writing a novel in a month. I don’t view this as a conflict. The recommendations should help you complete the challenge without attempting to write 24 by 7 for the month. Also, the challenge is on getting your first draft completed. Following Boice’s recommendations would imply you will spend at least another month re-writing, polishing, and completing your novel. Finally, NaNoWriMo is about more than just putting words on a page. It is geared toward building personal accountability and fostering the community or writers. That too, is one of Boice’s recommendations.

I plan on incorporating Boice’s recommendations in my own practice. I hope you all do as well.

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