Productivity Hacks for Writers – Tip #2
Productivity Hack #2: Monthly Strategy Session
The weekly strategy session is essentially the same as the daily session with one key difference. The goal here is to look at a much broader time horizon. Writing books takes time. This is not a task that you start and finish within a day or a week. Writing a book takes many months of planning and work. Publishing a book takes even longer. It is quite common for the entire process to take well over a year.
This long time horizon means authors must make frequent long-view assessments to ensure adequate progress is being made to reach each milestone along the way. The monthly strategy session works best if done at the beginning of the month with a focus on considering what must be done over the course of that month to meet any deadlines. The results of this planning session will feed into the daily sessions discussed above.
As an example, if your goal is to self publish a novel one of the first steps in that process is to actually write the novel. You must build a world, create a plot, flesh out characters, and then write the story. After the story is written you will need to engage the services of an editor, a cover artist, an interior designer all of whom have their own busy schedules and often are booked for months ahead. Having an understanding of when you will need each set of services, and therefore when to start reaching out to schedule them, is critical. Mussing up on this might delay the release of your book by months.
Another thing to note is the importance of keeping your name out there, particularly when you are starting out in your career. Keeping a steady stream of books is critical. Some experts say as frequently as a new book out every 6 months! Keeping the line stocked with stories and moving forward is critical if you are going to have a new book out that frequently. This takes careful planning and timing, and an excellent strategy to succeed.
Think of tip #1 and tip #2 in terms of driving a car. There are many things you need to do to drive a car. You need to put the key in the ignition, turn the key to start the car, and put the car into gear all before you can even move the vehicle. From there you need to press the gas to move forward and speed up, the brake to slow down, and steering to ensure you hit nothing and get to your destination. The daily strategy session covers these smaller incremental daily tasks involved in driving a car. It answers how you get to your destination. The monthly strategy session is where you determine what the destination is. It is where you decide where you are going. Getting into a car and driving will certainly move you around. But if you don’t know where you are going you’re not really making any progress. Similarly, having a destination in mind but no plan on how to get there brings you no closer to your goal. Both are critical ingredients to your success, no matter what it is you are trying to accomplish.
