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I think this is one of the biggest challenges for all of us; for example, I'm writing this post at midnight! But I'm interested in learning from all of you who do manage to work AND find time to write -- do you have tips you could share? My Rethinking Information Careers column for Rachel next month will focus on ways to carve out writing time, and I'd love to include your recommendations.
Here are some approaches that work for me:
1) Set aside one lunch hour per week to take myself out to lunch and work on some aspect of writing. That might be reading a book about writing, doing some idea brainstorming, editing a rough draft of something I've written, or going through all of my professional reading and making notes about possible article ideas. I find there's a tremendous rush of focused energy when I'm writing in a public place such as a restaurant or coffee house.
2) Set aside one night a week to go through all my professional publications, non-LIS pubs, and all other reading materials looking for ideas, stats, quotes, themes, etc. I find this works especially well in conjunction with a big glass of pinot grigio and a great DVD to watch.
3) Keep a folder of articles to read and writing materials in the car so that when you're in "waiting mode," e.g., at a child's soccer game or waiting for a friend at a restaurant, you can engage in activities that support your writing goals.
4) Keep an "action-items" list of things that you can do in 15-minute increments. For example, doing a quick Google search for an information resource, calling or e-mailing the library for a statistic, reading and annotating an article on a topic you're interested in, editing a couple of pages of your article draft, etc. The benefit of keeping a list like this is that you never have to waste time thinking about what useful thing you might do with a few extra minutes, you'll already be ready to make the most of those spare moments.
5) Use two or three 3x4 ft bulletin boards to lay out articles that Iyou're working on so you can visually see how ideas do or do not flow, connect, follow logically, etc. I use one bulletin board to pin up all of my organization documents - for example, when I was writing my book (Rethinking Information Work), I had one bulletin board dedicated to the book and chapter outlines so I could always see where a given section fit within the overall structure. Then I pinned up the section pages on the other two boards so I could see structure, layout, balance, etc. Easy that way to use colored pens to indicate paragraph shifts, materials to move from one page to another, where headings are needed for balance and consistency, etc.
If these materials are on bulletin boards, then you can just move them out of the way until you're ready to start working on them again. The key thing is that when you're finished with your current writing session, you always write up a sheet that says what you've just completed, what needs to be done next, and any questions/issues/concerns you need to address when you start up again. This last step means you can re-engage quickly, rather than spending time wondering what the heck it was you were working on when you get back to your writing four weeks later!
Okay, those are some of the approaches I use - how about everybody else? Does anyoone use Julia Cameron's idea about writing extemporaneously first thing in the morning? (The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron)
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Kim, I'm glad you posted this. I appreciate your ideas, and I look forward to reading others' ideas! I generally try to set aside a few hours on Saturdays to accomplish one or two items on my professional to-do list. I also have great intentions of setting aside one night a week as well, but then I have trouble deciding which night it should be. ;-) I realized recently that I have to tell myself that I only have to do one big project or two little projects on Saturday, so I don't feel overwhelmed. I've also started trying to find little things (personal and professional) I can accomplish on week nights that either take only a few minutes or can easily be done sitting on my couch watching television. One of the best things I did to keep myself organized was to create a private wiki to keep track of everything. I use the wiki to keep a running list of blog entry ideas, projects I need to do, technologies I want to try out, books/authors I want to read (personal and professional - and readers' advisory ideas for friends and family, too), and many other things. Having the wiki means that I can easily add items from work or home when I have an idea but not enough time to do anything. Then, I always have a couple of projects or blog entry ideas on hand when I do have time on Saturdays (or that night of the week I keep meaning to set aside). I also keep a note pad with me for random ideas when I'm not at the computer. At work, there are two things I added to my computer that I just love. The Read It Later Firefox extension for keeping track of online articles, news items, and blog entries I want to read later at work. I also added a to-do list gadget to Google desktop so that I can keep up with minor work projects that can be done when I find a little extra time. I also tag things in my del.icio.us account with "readthis," "blogthis," "trythis," or something like that when I find something as I'm reading discussion lists or RSS feeds at my lunch break and want to spend more time on it later. For reading, I usually have a professional book to read with me for when I'm in "waiting mode," too. I have also been *attempting* to balance professional and personal reading as well, reading one or two personal books for every professional book. Of course, sometimes I'm just excited to read certain professional books, and then sometimes I rationalize tipping the scale the other way because I'm finding so many good books for personal reading at my local public library. ;-) It's a goal I'm not too worried about reaching as long as I'm reading something I like.
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This is a great approach; thanks for sharing! I'm going to have to try these ideas out....
Also, I was in a get-together with a group of fellow AIIP members who live in the Denver area, and we were discussing how to find time to write. One of the things we talked about was separating all of your writing prep - e.g., researching, lining out and organizing your ideas, gathering quotes and stats, etc. - from your actual dedicated writing time. The prep should be done before you sit down to write. That way when you actually do have writing time, you don't lose momentum by having to figure out where to start or what you want to say - you will be ready to commit words to paper/screen.
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