Organizing/Prioritizing Your Life as an Author

What is most important? I try to do my most important things first in the day. That means I rarely answer emails first. I write first. I finish my writing and then let myself do other things. And my writing is rarely contracted. I always have things I am working on that are for me, and I find those very important. I think it is vital to a writer to keep a Chinese wall between what you’re being paid for and what you live to do on your own.

What is most urgent? When I am finished with my writing for the day, I deal with what is urgent. Emails, conference details (I’m a conference organizer—Writing For Charity), business phone calls, taxes, etc. Basically, the urgent things are the things that other people think are important and these are people who matter to me and who make my life as a writer possible. I might also add to this category things like necessary errands for writing and family life.

What are your deadlines? Deadlines should be consulted regularly, but I don’t live my life by deadlines. I have confidence I will meet them and I make sure that I schedule time regularly to finish my work early. But it’s not my be all and end all of existence. I think this actually makes me work better and more efficiently. I don’t tend to put off deadlines because I’m nervous about them, either.
What are your obligations? In this category, I would put things that I have agreed to do but that are not vital to my career, for instance, talks I am giving at upcoming events, book signings I’ve agreed to do, reading for blurbs, reading for friends, etc. These are things I would like to do, but if I have to drop them, I will. They happen when I have time for them.

Calendaring. I keep a calendar with all my business information on it. It has deadlines listed, any events I’ve agreed to go to. It also keeps track of the time I’ve spent on various projects. I put up goals for each month and then keep track of time spent on those goals. But I can add things as necessary. I also put up lunches with writer friends or others, and mileage and other expenses so I keep track of those all in the same place.

Leave time for emergencies. This is something I tend to tell people who are like me, and who overschedule themselves because they are full of energy. I am juggling a lot of balls at any one time and I guess that must be the way I like it, since my life has always been that way. But even for someone like me, I can’t schedule every hour of every day because life isn’t like that. I tell my kids that they need to make sure they always leave at least 10% of their energy each day for unexpected things that come up.

Schedule twice (or thrice) as much time as you think you need for any project. My husband works for a small company as a robotics/programming engineer. He often has to project how many hours he thinks a project will take. It always takes 2-3 times as long. At best. This is true for everyone. Yes, even for you. If one project comes out to what you thought it would be, another one will go so long that it still makes this rule true. Problems will come up. Deal with them properly.

Deal with anxieties. I haven’t met a writer yet who didn’t have anxieties. Even the ones who seem to be arrogant are dealing with them—maybe that’s why they seem arrogant, because they’re compensating. If you don’t learn to deal with your anxieties in a healthy way, they will destroy your productivity. Seriously. They only get worse as you become more successful, so don’t think that at some future point you will get rid of them. Figure out why you write and make sure that it doesn’t have to do with money, fame, or your mother’s approval.

Meditation and focus. You need time to let your brain rest each day. Live with some silence. Turn off the internet. Turn off the TV. Turn off all the voices around you and listen to yourself consistently. Doing this will improve the engine you need to keep going daily.