Daily schedule and workflow

Some of you might be curious about what it’s like to be a full time professional author. While there’s no one single ‘way’ to go about it, here’s what I’ve found works for me.

Getting ready

I wake up at 7 or 8 AM, more so because I’m a light sleeper than out of any attempt to set a schedule for myself. Given the nature of my work I don’t really need to cleave to any hourly schedule, or weekly for that matter. Unless I need to go to the store, it doesn’t really matter when I’m active or working or not.

The biggest advantage is that I can do my laundry while everyone else is at work and have both of the building’s machines to myself.

As I said, though, I’m an early riser. I get up, check my email, answer any that needs answering, make coffee, feed the cats, and generally get ready for the day. I’m ready to start working at 9.

Pomodoro

I keep myself on task throughout the day through use of the Pomodoro technique. I have a little timer that goes off every 25 minutes, and after that I take a five minute break before starting up again. I schedule these in two hour blocks of four, with twenty minutes between blocks. Four blocks is eight hours of work.

Breaking up my time this way keeps my mind fresh, and scheduling the day’s task in terms of two hour blocks keeps me working steadily – I always know what I need to work on next. And because I always have a short break coming up, I can hold off getting a snack or other interruptions until they don’t break my creative flow.

Weekly Schedule

Three of each day’s blocks are usually dedicated to whatever novel I’m working on. The fourth rotates day by day. Mondays I write the week’s blog posts. Tuesday I work on writing the current audio drama. Wednesday I’m writing Interactive Fiction. Thursday is for Last Minute GM RPG projects. and Friday I produce and record That Which is Known.

Weekends are wild cards. I try to do my shopping on weekends. I also work on generally whatever is close to completion, though still in Pomodoro blocks.

So, there you have it. Writing is a full time job, at least 40 hours a week, plus whatever I manage on weekends. Using Pomodoro timing helps keep me on-task and focused; if I have permission to browse the web or whatever during the five minute blocks between breaks, I’m less tempted to do so while I should be writing.

Questions? You are invited to either leave a comment below, or ask directly through the comment form.

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