When I read that Kelly L. Stone had written a book called Time to Write: Professional Writers Reveal How to Fit Writing into Your Busy Life, I knew she was the perfect 5 Q's subject! In fact, the multi-talented and gracious Ms. Stone responded to my email request within the hour and the rest is history. In addition to contributing to several anthologies, publishing novels, and working as a licensed counselor, she also written for Writer's Digest, Family Circle, and other magazines. Here is her advice on finding time to write...
Urban Muse: You interviewed over 100 writers for your book. How did you keep all of your interviews and research organized?
Kelly: It was a challenge, believe me! I made a separate file folder for each author that included their individual interview, their bio, and any other pertinent information they’d sent me, and I also put all the interviews together in a single word document file on my computer. The interviews came to about 225 single spaced pages. After I had an outline of Time to Write, I read through the interviews and pasted into each chapter the relevant quotes that I wanted to work into the writing. For the research material, I did most of that online, so I made a separate folder in my e-mail where I’d send myself links to various studies and whatnot so that I could easily find them again. A lot of the psychology information came from my old college textbooks that had been stored in the garage. It was nice to have a use for them again!
UM: Many writers do online research and surfing the web makes it easy to get off-track as you check facebook profiles, shop around on Amazon, etc. “just for a minute.” Any tips on cutting out distractions as you research online?K: The Internet is the bane of many writers, even the professionals I interviewed for Time to Write. There are several ways to combat this problem of getting sucked into cyberspace. Some of the writers I interviewed have a second computer for writing that isn’t connected to the Internet. Some write on an Alpha Smart and then download the day’s work later into their computer. Others simply close out their Internet browsers while they write; bestselling author Susan Grant told me that she actually unhooks her cable box from the wall to eliminate the temptation to check e-mail or surf.
When you get online to do research, exercise self-discipline. Set a timer for however long you think you’ll need to get it done and force yourself to focus only on your research during that time. Last, here’s a little trick many of the writers I interviewed use – reward yourself when you’re done. Each time you get through your writing or research session without checking e-mail, shopping online, or Internet surfing, do something nice for yourself. You can even use those online activities as your reward. Do what works for you. Writing is hard enough without feeling like you have to give up doing the fun stuff, too.
UM: How do you keep from getting burnt out as you juggle your job and writing projects?K: This is a great question. There are a couple of things I do. First, I write what I love to write. My day job provides my primary income, so I don’t have to take on writing assignments that I’m not interested in just to pay the light bill. I have the luxury of focusing on my long-range writing goals and my Vision of Success, which helps me avoid burn-out. Mostly, I look forward to writing each day (mostly). I also take breaks when I need them; sometimes it’s a day, sometimes it’s a week or more. This is another success strategy that my authors discuss in Time to Write— the importance of taking a breather and how to determine when you really need a break versus when you’re just goofing off. As one writer in my book said, you have to honor the source of your creativity. You have to let the well refill from time to time. How much time is needed for that to happen varies from one writer to the next. Everyone’s process is different.
UM: Should fiction and nonfiction writers apply the same time management strategies?
K: Yes. My extensive interviews with 104 professional writers in all genres revealed that the effective time management strategies that successful writers have in common, no matter what they write, are: setting a writing schedule, adhering to that writing schedule under all circumstances barring illness and true emergencies, creating deadlines for getting the various stages of their projects completed, using some type of “quota” system to ensure that they complete their work consistently-- for instance, writing a certain number of words or pages at each writing session, making a plan ahead of time for dealing with distractions (such as the Internet in question 2), and creating what I call a Vision of Success to help them stay focused and motivated over the long haul. There’s more, but these are the foundation time management strategies of all successful writers. In Time to Write, there’s a chapter devoted to each of the strategies that spells out exactly how successful writers use them in their day-to-day lives, and so it makes it easy for aspiring writers to implement them, too. If you use the techniques that I describe in the book, I guarantee you that you will find time to write no matter how busy you are.
UM: What’s next for you?
K: I’m working on a sequel to Time to Write, I’m polishing up my second novel so that I can present it to my agent, and I have a third novel in the beginning stages.
Thanks, Kelly! To sign up for her Time to Write newsletter, go to her website and click on “newsletter” button on left hand side.