Four Tactics to Increase Your Writing Productivity

Do you need solitude or solidarity when you write? You might answer one way today and a different way another day. There is not one right answer. It depends on you and your writing project. Here are a four tactics to help you get your writing done in a timely fashion!

1. Get a room. Rather than what you might be thinking, the idea here is that you get a hotel room (or reserve a room at your local library, civic center, or any other place that has rooms for rent or by request. Often, being in a room where there are NO distractions other than your cuticles is a great way to get major writing projects completed. I often worried that when I was writing my dissertation I might have to spend the last bit of money from my student loan on hotel rooms just so I could get finished! Part of what is wonderful about one of these reserved rooms (hotel or otherwise) is that you can spread out your materials and no one complains or tries to move them.
2. Have multiple writing projects. This way, if you are not in the mood to work on one writing task or project, you might be in the mood to work on another one. Generally, most of us don’t just have one outfit to wear because there are days that call for one look and days where we’re in the mood for another. Take that idea to your writing: When you have a variety of pieces of writing that are in process, you can make decisions about what you want to work on depending on your mood, the amount of time you have to devote to the task, the level of distraction you’re dealing with, or what your passion is right now. The main idea for writers is to keep writing no matter what. Having myriad options helps us stay fresh instead of frozen when presented with today’s writing time.
3. Channel your inner writer or channel someone else. Some days, you have nothing to say or at least you have nothing to say that sounds very good. On these days, channel the inner writer who has secret, special things to say or channel someone else’s writer. Imagine you are ______ and say what s/he would say. Write what s/he would write.
4. Join a writer’s group. You can check sources for ones that are in your area, form your own group, or become part of the community of writers who congregate virtually. Two excellent resources for the latter are Gina Hiatt’s group (AcademicLadder.com) and Kerry Ann Rockquemore’s group (www.BlackAcademic.com).

 

Meggin McIntosh, the PhD of Productivity, is an award-winning professor who now works with academics who prefer overjoyed to overwhelmed. She is a former university professor and administrator and currently a coach, author, and workshop leader. People who are overwhelmed and would prefer to be overjoyed instead, are the people I’m fortunate enough to connect with.